EDA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development
- U.S. Department of Commerce in 2008 As a Special Advisor
Alejandra Y. Castillo was sworn in as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development on August 13, 2021, becoming the first women of color to hold this position. In this unprecedented moment of growth and opportunity, she leads the only federal agency focused exclusively on economic development.
She guides the implementation of over $5 billion dollars in funding, powering the U.S Economic Development Administration (EDA) and its mission to make the transformational investments in America. During the implementation of the American Rescue Plan alone, she oversaw the investment of $3 Billion dollars across nearly 800 projects, resulting in more than 200,000 jobs secured across the nation.
Castillo first joined the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2008 as a Special Advisor to the Under Secretary for the International Trade Administration. Additionally, Castillo served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House during the Clinton Administration. Prior to EDA, Castillo was the Chief Executive Officer of YWCA USA, where she championed the 163-year-old organization delivering critical social, educational, and economic development services throughout its 204 associations.
Job Titles:
- Regional Director
- Regional Director for EDA 's Denver Regional Office
Angela Belden Martinez serves as the Regional Director for EDA's Denver Regional Office, responsible for EDA's ten-state mountain west region. Angela joined the Denver office in 2016 after serving for more than six years as EDA's Director of External Affairs in Washington, D.C., where she advised the Assistant Secretary on strategic policy issues and managed both the legislative and public affairs work of the agency. As part of her work at EDA, Angela has helped shape and launch several multi-agency initiatives, including the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership, and EDA's Regional Innovation Strategies Program, now known as Build to Scale.
Angela brings 20 years of experience in both the private and public sectors. Before joining the Department of Commerce, Angela was Vice President of Corporate Communications for the Motion Picture Association of America, where she managed global communications efforts and served as a senior advisor to the CEO and member company officials. Prior to that, Angela served clients and developed business at two prominent Washington, D.C. public affairs firms. An Indiana native, she served as Communications Director for her hometown congressman as well as Deputy Press Secretary and Director of Communications for former Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon. In these roles, Angela acted as spokesperson, developed and coordinated media and messaging strategies, and worked closely with external stakeholders. Angela earned her bachelor's degree from Indiana University with a double major in Journalism and Political Science.
Job Titles:
- Director, Legislative and
Job Titles:
- Director, Office of Innovation
Job Titles:
- Director, Office of External Affairs
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs
- Member of the Federal Innovation Council
Craig Buerstatte is an entrepreneurial public servant who is passionate about building teams, businesses, and communities for the future. He first honed his innovation skills in remote areas of Iraq as an Army Officer, developing new supply chain solutions and infrastructure when resources were strained. Craig leveraged this experience to jump into entrepreneurship, founding a technology firm and investing in startups in Austin, Texas, before returning to public service to help the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grow its Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (OIE). As Director for OIE, he led new policy initiatives and grant programs that promoted technology innovation and talent development as tools for economic development-growing the portfolio nearly 400% and scaling its impacts to over $1.6 billion in private investment capital and 14,000 jobs.
Today, Craig serves as EDA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs, responsible for the implementation, growth, and evaluation of EDA's economic development programs and policies. This work brings together the tools and expertise across EDA's six regional offices, national program teams, and performance division to create more robust and resilient regional economies across America.
Craig also serves as a member of the Federal Innovation Council, a team of civil servant leaders advising the Partnership for Public Service on strategies to move the Federal Government into a modern, 21st Century enterprise. When not trying to push government forward, he can be found digging in his evergreen garden on Capitol Hill or kayak fishing somewhere around the DMV.
Craig's foundation in economic development can be traced through his education. He earned a B.S. in Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Affairs
Cristina Killingsworth serves as EDA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Affairs, responsible for EDA's national programs, including Tech Hubs, Recompete, the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, and the Good Jobs Challenge, legislative and public affairs, and the policy portfolio. Earlier in the Biden-Harris administration, Cristina served as Chief of Staff for the International Trade Administration within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Cristina helped launch and was Vice President at WestExec Advisors, a geopolitical strategic advisory firm. In her prior government service, she was Senior Advisor to the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Director for Strategic Planning at the White House National Security Council, Director for African Affairs at the NSC, and an Examiner in the International Affairs Division of the White House Office of Management and Budget. She started her career as a staffer in the Massachusetts State Senate. Cristina holds a Master of Arts in international affairs from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts in humanities and Middle Eastern studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She is the proud mom of Simon and June.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development and Chief Operating Officer
Dennis Alvord serves as EDA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development and Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for enterprise-wide operations and program execution. Mr. Alvord performed the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development from April 2017 through March 2019 and, again, from January through August 2021.
Active in the Department, he was elected as Co-Chair of the Department Management Council, comprised of senior executives from all of Commerce's principal operating units. Previously, as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary, he worked on a broad portfolio of department-wide management, operations, program and policy issues and co-chaired the Department of Commerce's 2016-17 Presidential Transition, coordinating efforts across the Department and with the White House and President Elect's Transition Team.
Preceding his Senior Advisor role, he led start-ups as Executive Director of BusinessUSA, a government-wide, multiagency customer service initiative that promoted and improved access to business assistance resources, and as Executive Director of the Department of Commerce's CommerceConnect initiative, which simplified access to the Department's business solutions.
Before joining the federal government, Mr. Alvord worked as a manager in the infrastructure finance group of an environmental and transportation consulting practice. Mr. Alvord holds a Master of Public Administration from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is a recipient of the 2015 President's Award for Customer Service.
Job Titles:
- Director, Economic Development Integration and Disaster Recovery
H. Philip Paradice, Jr. serves as the Regional Director for EDA's Atlanta Regional Office. Serving the eight-state southeast region, he manages a staff dedicated to facilitating contemporary economic development implementation strategies, public-private partnerships, and regional competitiveness. He began service with EDA in 1998 when selected as Atlanta's Chief of Capacity Development. In this capacity, he managed the region's non-construction portfolio including Partnership Planning, University Center, Revolving Loan Fund, and Economic Adjustment Assistance grants.
Phil represented EDA in North Carolina during its response to Hurricane Floyd in 1999. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2007. During a period of management transition in EDA, he served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs. During this seven-month appointment, he was team lead on EDA's application process improvement initiative, for which he received the Commerce Secretary's Performance Excellence Award.
Phil's prior experience includes service with a nonprofit that represented financial service institutions, as a vice president with a Wall Street investment banking affiliate, and as a supervisory liquidation specialist for the FDIC during the banking and real estate crisis. He is a native of Atlanta, graduate of Georgia Tech, and holds an MBA from Georgia State University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Administrative Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
Jennifer Werner most recently served as the Director of the Department of the Interior's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act Program Management Office where she oversaw implementation and execution of the $36 billion in new funding. Previously, Jen served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Resource Management and was responsible for budget, financial services, human capital, and acquisition services for the DOI Office of the Chief Information Officer. Jen's other DOI roles include the Deputy Comptroller/Budget Officer for the National Park Service where she managed budget formulation, budget execution, strategic planning, and business systems. Prior to joining DOI, Jen spent 17 years at the Department of Commerce. Initially employed as an oceanographer, she spent more than a decade in budget, financial management, and administrative program management roles at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and served as the Chief Financial Officer for the National Technical Information Service. Jen earned a Master of Science in Meteorology from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Bachelor of Science in Oceanography from the United States Naval Academy.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Department of the Interior 's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Job Titles:
- Regional Director
- Regional Director for EDA 's Austin Regional Office
Jorge Ayala serves as the Regional Director for EDA's Austin Regional Office. He is responsible for a five-state region including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. He and his staff develop and manage the agency's investments to support jobs, private investment, innovation, entrepreneurship, and global competitiveness in the region.
Jorge has been with EDA for over 25 years. During his tenure, he has served in several capacities including Area Director, Director of Operations Management and Project Engineer. He has been instrumental in several major innovations that are now EDA standards, such as multi-year partnership planning grants and the EDA construction grant post-approval process tool.
Before joining EDA, Jorge worked in the Air Force as an Aerospace Engineer on the F-16 and F-15 jet engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney. While EDA represents a major departure from his jet engine days, he could not envision doing anything else.
Jorge holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University - Kingsville and a master's degree in Engineering Management from the University of South Florida. Jorge is the recipient of the 2016 U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award for his work leading a national EDA team which improved the application process for all bureau grant programs.
Job Titles:
- American Rescue Plan Act Program Director
Job Titles:
- Regional Director
- Regional Director of EDA 's Philadelphia Regional Office
- Regional Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office
Linda Cruz-Carnall serves as the Regional Director of EDA's Philadelphia Regional Office. Linda Cruz-Carnall was appointed Regional Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office in December 2015. She leads a staff of economic development professionals in the oversight and management of the region's operations, competitive and discretionary federal economic development funding, and outreach covering federal regions I, II, and III extending from Maine to the Virginias, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Linda joined EDA in March 1988 as Regional Counsel to the Philadelphia Regional Office, providing legal oversight and administrative expertise to the EDA staff and stakeholders. She has provided expertise in implementing a variety of new initiatives, including EDA's Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiative and the Regional Integration practice through Regional Economic Diversification Summits and Federal Interagency Resource Exchanges. Most recently, she has led regional office collaborative engagements with the Northern Border forest and Appalachian coal-impacted communities, and communities diversifying as a result of nuclear plant decommissioning. She serves as a regional representative of the White House Opportunity Revitalization Council, delivering outreach and collaborative support to federally-designated Opportunity Zones.
She is actively engaged in EDA's delivery of CARES COVID-19 pandemic recovery assistance, American Recue Plan funding, and disaster recovery and resiliency services, including Disaster Supplemental competitive funding to mainland communities and island territories impacted by federally-declared disasters.
Linda is a native Philadelphian, holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology from University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
Mara Quintero Campbell serves as EDA's first Deputy Chief Operating Officer (DCOO), where she supports the management of EDA's operational portfolio and oversees strategy development and execution, enterprise change management, and organizational development. As DCOO, she provides leadership and strategic direction for the Bureau and supervises all mission-enabling services. Mara has served in a variety of roles within EDA, including as Regional Counsel to HQ, where she spearheaded the legal implementation of EDA's Build to Scale programming, Senior Advisor to the DAS & COO, where she oversaw the execution of $1.2B in disaster recovery funding and led EDA through its COVID response, and as Acting Chief of Staff and interim Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy where she led EDA to its first-ever White House program announcement, and then managed the execution and launch of EDA's two newest programs, Tech Hubs, and Recompete. Before EDA, Mara served as Associate General Counsel and Acting General Counsel at the Inter-American Foundation, advising the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer on various compliance, oversight, and international policy issues. Mara is an American University, Washington College of Law graduate and holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Bard College.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff
- Member of the Leadership Team
- New Chief of Staff for the Economic Development Administration
Maryam Janani-Flores is the new Chief of Staff for the Economic Development Administration. Prior to joining EDA, she was the Policy Director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth where she oversaw the policy team's economic research agenda and supervised a team of a dozen policy economists and analysts. Maryam began her career in government service advising former Congressman Beto O'Rourke on economic and health policy. She subsequently served as legislative director to Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and led Congresswoman Norma Torres's pandemic response and recovery agenda to address critical public health, supply chain, and worker needs. Before Capitol Hill, Maryam managed economic evaluations of apprenticeship and school-based programs in Kenya with Innovations for Poverty Action, launched economic research capacity building initiatives with the Center for Effective Global Action, and consulted on international and domestic-focused projects that touched on economic development issues for Dalberg Advisors. Maryam holds a master's degree in economics and public policy from Princeton University and a bachelor's degree in neurobiology from Harvard University.
Before joining EDA, Sheba was the Executive Director of the Economic Development Board of Sonoma County, where she led efforts to meet the needs of small businesses during fires and COVID-19 and provided small business support to entrepreneurs of many backgrounds and cultures. Through this work, Sheba gained a unique perspective on how to support others through economic development work and encourage new leaders to come forward.
Sheba began her economic development career in 2008. Prior to her work with Sonoma County, Sheba served as the Economic Development Manager for the City of Stockton, where she led a team focused on business attraction and industry retention efforts, adaptive reuse, program development, equitable economic development, and community engagement.
Before relocating to California, Sheba served as the Senior International Trade Manager for Louisiana Economic Development, where she was responsible for redevelopment of the state's export promotion and international trade program and focused on increasing foreign direct investment into Louisiana. Sheba led international trade missions to Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.
Sheba also worked in economic development for the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Her key contributions included export promotion, operations management, program development, business retention and expansion, and administration of the state's Certified Sites Program. She worked as a research analyst focusing on wage, labor, and economic data analysis to support the establishment and growth of businesses in the state.
Sheba attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, receiving a bachelor's degree in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations. She also received her master's degree from Southern New Hampshire University in Operations and Project Management. Sheba is a member of California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED), International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Project Management Institute (PMI), Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC).
Sheba and her husband, Rameke, reside in the Seattle area with their two children, Kamryn and Charles.
Job Titles:
- Regional Director
- in 2013 As Regional Counsel
- Regional Director of EDA 's Chicago Regional Office
Susan Brehm serves as the Regional Director of EDA's Chicago Regional Office. She leads a team of economic development professionals in developing and managing the agency's investments to support the creation of higher-skill, higher-wage jobs and to encourage private investment, innovation, entrepreneurship, and global competitiveness throughout Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, as well as Muscatine and Scott Counties in Iowa.
Susan joined EDA in 2013 as Regional Counsel. Prior to her federal service, she was an associate with Sidley Austin LLP, where she advised local governments and institutional nonprofits on land use and other real property matters and litigated complex class actions. She also had a robust pro bono practice, successfully representing asylees, veterans, and incarcerated individuals.
She earned a law degree at the University of California - Berkeley and a bachelor's degree in English literature at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. In the years between earning her degrees, Susan launched a small business providing editorial services to publishers.
Susan grew up on a small, diversified family farm in northeastern Iowa and currently lives in the heart of Chicago. These divergent life experiences give her a balanced perspective and keen insights into the unique economic development challenges facing the Midwest's urban and rural communities.