City of Charlottesville’s Post

GET TO KNOW MATT JOHNSON Another relatively new face in the Office of Economic Development (OED), Matt moved to the City of Charlottesville last fall to join the team as Assistant Director. Before moving to Central Virginia, he spent a number of years in various economic development roles with the City of Newport News and York County. Let’s learn more about Matt! 📣 How did you get into economic development? 💭 I’m the classic case of someone who happened to stumble into economic development. After getting laid-off during the 2008 recession, I was searching for a new job and saw an opening for the Business Retention Coordinator position with the City of Newport News. It felt like a good fit based upon my previous work experiences, so I applied and was lucky enough to be offered the job. Before that point I had barely even heard of economic development and certainly didn’t know what the work entailed, but I got into it and immediately knew this was the career field for me. 📣 Describe what the average day looks like for you. 💭 Whatever the next phone call or email brings. In all seriousness, while there are always certain things I have lined up on regular basis like business visits, partner organizations meetings, in-office work, etc., a lot of what happens each day is based upon the calls and emails that come through the office. This makes each day a little bit different from the next, which is one of the things I really like about economic development. 📣 Name one skill you have that helps you succeed in economic development. 💭 I would have to say my love of problem-solving. So much of what we do in economic development to help businesses comes back to some aspect of problem-solving, so it’s helpful to have skills in that area. 📣 If you weren’t in your current position, what would you be doing? 💭 That’s a hard one. I enjoy working in economic development so much it’s really hard for me to envision being in a different career field. It would probably be something still in economic development but maybe on the other side of the table working for a consulting firm or a private sector company’s development team. I’ve always said when I retire, I’m going to get a hotdog cart and setup shop each day for lunch in the middle of town (wherever that happens to be). We hope you've enjoyed this week's Staff Spotlight series, celebrating #EconDevWeek in conjunction with International Economic Development Council and Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA). Make sure to follow us for more information from the OED team, members of the Charlottesville business community, and our economic development partners!