Ioanna Morfessis


Ioanna Morfessis is an American business woman and an internationally recognized economic development strategist and practitioner. She has been an innovator in economic development programs and strategies since her first post in the profession, founding four economic development organizations and establishing programs and tools that became models for communities across the U.S. Morfessis is a trailblazer as a woman executive in economic development, having served as the first woman to lead economic development organizations in the markets that she served.
Morfessis helped to launch America's first "one-stop" business assistance center for minority enterprises, based in Washington, D.C.; spearheaded the nation’s first R&D park dedicated to biotechnology firms and institutions, located in Montgomery County, MD; and catalyzed the City of Phoenix's first public-private economic development partnership, the Phoenix Economic Growth Corporation. As the founding President/CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, she helped establish a new model for regional collaboration that has been emulated in other major regions in the U.S.
In September 2011, Dr. Morfessis was named the recipient of the International Economic Development Council Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Economic Development Award for an esteemed career of empowering communities and companies to prosper.
A sought-after economic and business development "guru" and authority on economic and community development trends, Morfessis' work has attracted billions of dollars in job creation and private capital investment in the markets she has served.

Early life and education

A first generation American of Greek heritage, Morfessis was born in Washington, D.C.
Morfessis earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from American University, a Master’s of Public Administration from George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Arizona State University.

Career in economic development

Greater Washington Business Center

Morfessis was Director of Resource Development for the Greater Washington Business Center in
Washington, D.C. from December 1974 to November 1977. At a time when the federal Office of Minority Business Enterprise and the Small Business Administration was just beginning to channel assistance and loans to minority businesses to assist in their growth development, Morfessis helped to launch the nation's first "one-stop" business assistance center for small minority business enterprises. In 1975, Morfessis co-led a newly established Business Resource Center, a program created to increase the profitability and growth of minority-owned retail businesses. She enlisted the direct participation of more than 30 major corporations, including IBM, Lockheed Martin, Ernst & Young, and others to fund the Center and to institute minority procurement programs. These efforts resulted in the formation of the Metropolitan Washington Minority Purchasing Council, which established and achieved company goals for minority participation in government contracts. She also helped to stage Opportunity Fair 1976 – one of the first nationwide minority procurement trade fairs in the U.S.

Montgomery County Office of Economic Development and Agricultural Development

Morfessis was appointed the acting director of the Office of Economic Development and Agricultural Development in Montgomery County. This Office ultimately became the County's Office of Economic Development. As its first Director, Morfessis was the key architect of one of the first Research and Development Villages in the nation, and developed the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center on 300 acres of County-owned land along the-then predominantly vacant I-270 corridor, a major northsouth highway linking Washington, D.C. to the northwestern counties in Maryland. The Shady Grove Life Sciences Center was the U.S.’s first research and development park devoted exclusively to biotechnology.
Morfessis was a forerunner in integrating higher education with economic development. Morfessis led the establishment of a partnership between the County, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop one of the world's leading laboratories for R&D in biosciences: . Following this achievement, Morfessis facilitated a groundbreaking agreement with Johns Hopkins University to locate a graduate teaching facility at the Life Sciences Center, offering masters and doctoral degrees in a range of applied technical fields. Until that time, there were no post-secondary educational institutions in the county. Among other firms she recruited, Morfessis played a central role in recruiting Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company to locate in the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center, the first Japanese R&D lab to locate in the U.S. Morfessis built a track record of integrating higher education with economic development, and maintaining a focus on high technology. As of 2011, more than 200 firms and 45,000 employees are situated in the Shady Grove Life Sciences area.
In 1981, Morfessis helped to establish the Economic Advisory Council, a private, blue chip organization of CEOs to advise the County Executive on economic, fiscal, and management issues. The Economic Advisory Council created a precursor to the many workforce development initiatives found throughout the U.S. today. Recognizing the need to ensure that the changing employment needs of business and workforce development were critical factors in economic success, the Economic Advisory Council created a program which provided training for a range of jobs, and established a structure that utilized a computerized job exchange that matched qualified job seekers with available positions.
During her tenure as Director of the Montgomery County Office of Economic Development, Morfessis participated in the business expansion and location decisions of more than 35 companies, which, combined, created more than 30,000 new direct jobs – most of them high value-added, high paying –and generated $2 billion in private capital investment.

Phoenix Economic Growth Corporation

Morfessis was recruited to serve as the inaugural executive director of the Phoenix Economic Growth Corporation in 1985. As Executive Director from July 1985 to August 1989 of the economic development partnership between Phoenix city government and the private sector, Morfessis executed the City's first private-public partnership for economic development. During her tenure, Morfessis assisted in the attraction of 42 new companies to Phoenix, generating more than $2 billion in private capital and investments and 8,000 new jobs.

Greater Phoenix Economic Council

Morfessis was the founding president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, an organization originally called Greater Phoenix Partnership. As President and CEO from August 1989 to 1997, Morfessis developed one of the first private-public regional economic development organizations in the nation. With Morfessis at the helm, GPEC brought together the region's leading CEOs, 15 local and county governments, three principal educational institutions, organized labor, and multiple competing organizations into a unified effort to create what has become one of the most successful economic development organizations in the U.S. GPEC's core business model is to diversify the economic base, improve the competitiveness of the business climate, and market the region nationally and internationally.
Morfessis also convened business, economic development and public agencies to support and fund Arizona’s first statewide economic development strategy, becoming the first state to utilize Dr. Michael Porter’s cluster-based theory of economic development as the cornerstone of its strategic plan. By working with myriad state, local, county leaders, private sector executives, university officials, professional associations, and industry/trade groups, Morfessis helped to launch Arizona’s Strategic Plan for Economic Development which began an entirely new era of economic development planning and was the first effort to diversify the state’s economy to reduce its dependence on housing construction and population growth. One of the most important outcomes of this work was to encourage the establishment of cluster-based industry work groups, which has since led to the formation of the Arizona Technology Council, and the integration of the cluster-based approach into all regional economic development initiatives throughout the state.
As a community leader, Morfessis helped to galvanize private and public support to overcome the challenges of a defeated measure to establish a state holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and led other efforts to promote diversity and improve the quality of life for all in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Morfessis became one of the early champions for a TQM-based effort for organizational improvement and accountability in economic development, creating a 360-degree evaluation of GPEC. Working with experts from various sectors across the nation, she helped devise metrics for regional economic development organizations, with GPEC being the first to implement them. Each year, GPEC published an annual report card based on an independently administered survey. These metrics have been widely emulated nationwide. Morfessis also designed and implemented highly targeted marketing initiatives to help retain and attract business. Calling on chief elected officials from Arizona’s Congressional delegation, statehouse, county government, and cities, the CEOs of major corporations with divisional or national headquarters, and presidents of colleges and universities, Morfessis executed unique executive sales missions to help retain and attract business.
During Morfessis' tenure, GPEC-assisted locates, including Sumitomo Sitix, Microchip Technology, Hamilton Standard Aerospace, and AT&T, established more than 164,000 new direct and induced jobs in the Greater Phoenix area, representing $2.7 billion in total employee earnings, and invested more than $20 billion in new plants, buildings, and equipment.
In April 1996, GPEC was recognized by magazine as one of the ten best economic development organizations in the world. In that same year, Morfessis was named the region's most influential woman.

Greater Baltimore Alliance, now: Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore

Morfessis was recruited to serve as the first president of the Greater Baltimore region's new private-public partnership for economic development, the . From May 1997 to December 2003, Morfessis unified a once competitive and divided economic development community into a nationally respected public-private regional initiative. The organization's Board of Directors included leading corporate CEOs and business entrepreneurs, educational officers, the Governor of Maryland, the Mayor of Baltimore, and County Executives from the five surrounding counties.
As president of the Greater Baltimore Alliance, Morfessis created and implemented a strategy to increase and sustain Baltimore's economic competitiveness in comparison with other regional economies. In early 2000, she led the first regional economic development effort that focused on retaining and attracting talent as a cornerstone strategy. During her tenure, she was responsible for the relocation, expansion, or retention of 34 companies and $5.2 billion of new economic activity. The economic impact of these companies was projected in 2003 to create $14.5 billion in new demand and 11,000 new jobs over ten years. Successful projects included the location or expansion of Sierra Military Health Systems, international headquarters, and Coca-Cola Enterprises as well as Bank One and the . and World Duty Free Americas headquarters The organization galvanized local and state elected officials, corporate executives, business and civic leaders, and educational officials from throughout the region to champion the Greater Baltimore region, participating in national executive sales missions to Illinois, Ohio, California, New York, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Michigan to proactively recruit new companies to the region.
In addition, Morfessis led a new initiative to promote the Greater Baltimore region to its own residents. Working with the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, chambers of commerce and other private and public sector groups, Morfessis raised funds to pay for the "Why Baltimore?" campaign which aimed to change the negative attitudes held by many community members. Many regional organizations integrated this campaign into their own marketing and messaging. The CVB trained taxi cab drivers, hotels trained front desk and reservation staffs, and the restaurant association provided educational materials about the positive attributes of Baltimore. More than 81 cities across the nation evaluated this campaign and many adopted their own version to promote civic pride within their jurisdictions.
While at the Greater Baltimore Alliance, Morfessis helped to establish Space Hope, a partnership between the Alliance, NASA, and some of the area’s colleges and universities, including the historically Black college, Coppin State University. This program was designed to encourage high school and college students to pursue studies in science and math, well before STEM became the focal point of federal, state, and local educational policy. She also helped to launch the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, the region’s first organization to coordinate the efforts of the disparate performing and visual arts groups and museums.

IO INC.

In 2004, Morfessis returned to Phoenix to found , a consulting practice that helps leaders and their organizations and communities develop and execute strategic economic development programs. Among IO.INC's clients are ; master planned community developers; mid-cap firms; local, regional and national non-profits, and municipalities.
Among many achievements in economic development, IO.INC worked to help a "start-up" city — the City of Maricopa, Arizona — and served as the architect of its economic development strategy, programs, and tool kit. Maricopa went from a population of 4,300 in 2003 to 43,000+ in 2010. Morfessis was integrally involved in many aspects of helping to build this new city including transportation, public finance, public safety, and a general land use plan. Key projects included the development of an economic development strategy; execution of retail, hospitality, developer, and employer recruitment; business retention; conceptualization and execution of a redevelopment district; the establishment of an industrial development authority and a private-public economic development corporation. Among many accomplishments was the attraction of the City’s first major retail developer and big box store, urgent care facility, hotel, business park developer/project, and major health care institution that will ultimately build an acute care hospital.
Morfessis has completed significant research and planning initiatives to define and establish the foundations and strategies for two new and distinctly different 21st century communities, including a planned, 53 square mile, 40,000+ acre new American city that ultimately will be home to more than 500,000 individuals. At the heart of these strategies are next generation higher educational institutions, business enterprises and technologies, and other private and public anchors for sustainable and globally competitive economies and communities.

Large, mixed use and urban development projects

As director of the Montgomery County Maryland Office of Economic Development, Morfessis served as the lead negotiator in the redevelopment of the two primary Central Business Districts in Montgomery County, Maryland well before the opening of the Bethesda and Silver Spring Metro stations: Bethesda CBD and Silver Spring CBD. Redevelopment plans were created and executed in partnership with county, state, and federal agencies, and independent commissions. A major component of the redevelopment initiative was to reach out to absent landlords of older properties, and, in some cases, abandoned properties. Morfessis galvanized the private sector to work in cooperation with the county government to plan for bids for air rights development. Through her work with the Montgomery County Planning Board, which is part of the federally chartered Maryland National Parks and Planning Commission and assists in overseeing land use planning in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, sufficient density was approved to induce well-planned mixed use developments at the Bethesda and Silver Spring Metro Stations. Morfessis also attracted federal labs to locate near the Metro stations, as well as major developers from throughout the U.S. and Canada to develop office, residential, and retail at the Metro stations. As a result of the multi-year effort, major national and international developers were attracted and deals were negotiated for the construction of significant office, mixed use, retail, and hotel projects. Simultaneous initiatives were executed to attract end-users to these new projects, as well as renters and buyers for the residential components of these developments. Today, the two CBDs are vibrant downtowns, burgeoning with residents, jobs, shoppers, and tourists.
As executive director of the Phoenix Economic Growth Corporation, Morfessis was given the responsibility for the development of Sky Harbor Center, a 250-acre vacant redevelopment parcel adjacent to the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. At that time, the surrounding area was among the most deteriorated in the City of Phoenix. Working with the Phoenix Aviation and Community and Economic Development departments, she developed a private-public coalition of business, government, civic, and religious leaders to champion this project. A major impediment was the existence of an abandoned but historic small community church. Through the shared vision and significant work with community groups, Morfessis engineered community support for the relocation of the structure. Over the course of her five years working on this project, the once fallow site became home to more than 15 major national firms’ divisional operations, employing more than 6,000 people.

Awards and honors

Morfessis was featured as an outstanding woman business leader in the "Climbing to the Top" cover story in the Fall of 1993.
In the November 29, 1996 edition of , Morfessis became the first woman to rank in the top ten of the publication's ranking of "Most Influential People in Greater Phoenix". In the same edition, she held the top position on The Phoenix Business Journal "Most Influential Business Women in Greater Phoenix" list.
On January 30, 1997, Morfessis was honored by the as outstanding Hellenic American.
On November 14, 1997, Morfessis was inducted into the Arizona State University College of Public Programs Hall of Fame.
In February 1998, Morfessis was the recipient of the National Public Service Award.
The Baltimore Business Journal named Morfessis one of Baltimore's Most Influential leaders in 2000.
Baltimore named Morfessis as one of Baltimore's Top 10 Most Influential Leaders in 2000, 2001, and 2002 and as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Leaders in 2000.
Morfessis was a key participant at The American Assembly in November 2007. The 106th American Assembly was entitled "Retooling for Growth: Building a 21st Century Economy in America's Older Industrial Areas".
In 2012, Morfessis was recognized as one of the in the Arizona history, as the first woman to lead a major economic development organization in Phoenix. The honor was bestowed through an initiative celebrating the State of Arizona’s 100th year of statehood, the , in partnership with the Arizona Historical Society and the .
In 2014, fDI Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times of London and GIS Planning, honored Morfessis with its inaugural Economic Development Innovation Award.
In 2015, Morfessis was named one of by AZ Business Magazine.
In 2017, as a strong and vocal supporter of education and scholarships, Morfessis received the Maricopa Community College Foundation , recognizing her advocacy and achievements among community and business leaders who have contributed to the strengthening of Arizona public education.

Works authored and media relations

As an internationally recognized economic development professional, Morfessis has been widely published in industry publications and local news outlets, including:
Morfessis has served as a source for local, regional, and national print and broadcast reporters, including USA Today, , Forbes, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, ABC's "Good Morning America", NBC's "Today Show" and "CBS This Morning". In addition, Morfessis created and hosted a cable television program, Business Beat, in Baltimore, Maryland, featuring interviews with the CEOs of major corporations.

Professional affiliations and community service

Morfessis has and continues to be involved with business and community leadership activities including: