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Join host Linda Ostovitz each month for meaningful, practical discussions with guests who are on the cutting edge of business. They'll talk and you'll grow.
Linda Ostovitz: Hello everyone.
I'm Linda Ostovitz and welcome to
Real Talk, Real Growth, where we
have real conversations with people
who are on the cutting edge of what
they do, and we always take away a
nugget or many nuggets from these
conversations that we can put into
action and apply to our own situations
so that we experience real growth.
Today I am thrilled to have
Jennifer Jones with me.
Jennifer is the CEO of the Howard
County Economic Development Authority.
And I've known Jennifer for
quite a while, but I've gotten
to know her better more recently.
And Jennifer, is of interest to me
for this conversation because of where
she came from, where she went, what
she came back to that brought her
to the position that she's in right
now, that benefits dramatically,
Howard County and its business growth.
But also Jennifer has had the
occasion to deal with the situation
where she has taken the lead from
somebody who preceded her, who had
been in the position for a long time.
And as we know taking over in a role
like that has its own challenges.
And she's worked through how to make
the Economic Development Authority
her own and put her own mark on it
with her own goals and so forth.
So, Jennifer, thrilled to
have you join us today.
Thank you so much for saying yes.
Jennifer Jones: Thank you for having me.
It's great to be here, Linda.
Linda Ostovitz: My pleasure.
Jennifer, let's start from the beginning.
You originally are from Howard County.
Is that right?
Jennifer Jones: That's right.
I grew up in Howard County.
My parents moved down here when I
was about three and K through 12 went
to all my school in Howard County.
And lived in Columbia
all the way growing up.
Linda Ostovitz: I think in
that regard, you and I are some
of the few originals around.
I think I was a little older than
three when my family moved to Howard
County but I was young as well, so I
consider myself a home growing one here.
Jennifer, there came a time though
when you in furtherance of your career
goals and education left Maryland.
Jennifer Jones: Yeah, I did.
I graduated from Wild Lake
High School, go Wildcats.
Really proud of Wild Lake.
So I majored in engineering and undergrad
and I did apply to the University of
Maryland, which has a great engineering
school, but sometimes when you come outta
high school, you wanna get away from home.
You want to just kind
of make your own mark.
And so I decided to go to
Purdue, which is in Indiana,
that's right outside of Chicago.
And go there for my engineering degree.
When I came outta high school,
I just really wanted to get
away and see more things.
And I think it was a great move for me.
I have family in other parts of the
state, so that was good if I wanted to
see my aunts and uncles or whatever.
But it was important for me to get away
and meet new people and learn new things.
Linda Ostovitz: I'm gonna
jump ahead and be a spoiler.
It's interesting, wanted to get away
and what brought you back was the
desire to be back home and in a position
to be near and to help your parents.
So giving that piece of your story away,
but once you graduated and you have
a degree, an undergraduate degree in
electrical engineering, is that right?
Jennifer Jones: That's right.
Linda Ostovitz: Wow.
So what did you do with that
after you got that degree?
Jennifer Jones: So while I was at Purdue,
I did summer internships and engineering
summer internships which was great.
And then I decided to go to law school
after that, I did the JD MBA program.
But, I didn't, I never worked
professionally as an engineer, but I
use the kind of thought process and
critical thinking every single day.
'Cause what it trains you is to train
you to problem solve and break down
big problems into little pieces.
And that is a lot of the job I have now.
And like a lot of the
executive jobs I've had.
It's like they give you, the boss
or somebody gives you a problem,
it's usually very expansive.
It could be overwhelming, but that
engineering training, it's just
natural for me to break things
down into its little pieces and
solve and implement and execute.
Which is what engineers do.
I think I use it every day in a different
kind of way, but I did wanna go to law
school to kinda round out my education
because engineering is focused on,
problem solving, math and science.
There isn't a lot of communication,
writing communication in a, verbal
communication and written communication.
Not a lot of that unless
it's a technical paper.
So I felt like I needed
more experience than that.
So I went to law school.
I did the J-D-M-B-A program and all
you do is read and write there and
write legal research and writing
and you know what I'm talking about.
You're a lawyer.
I felt like that filled
gaps for me in my education.
So I, I think now though, like with
all of it it's very helpful for me in
this position to have that law kind
of experience also because of that.
Linda Ostovitz: Using
both sides of your brain.
Right.
Jennifer Jones: Yep.
Linda Ostovitz: It's interesting though
that you talk about thinking as an
engineer, and I will say I've had many
clients who are engineers over the years.
It really is interesting how an engineer
thinks you are different from the rest of
us in terms of how you approach an issue,
how you break it down into its, tiniest
smallest pieces to deal with it, as you
say, and I can understand why you view
it as such a benefit to have had that
education for the rest of what I know
you've done and are doing in your career.
So after, we've now got Jennifer Jones
who's an electrical engineer, who has a
law degree, who has a master's in law.
Did you then go to work
and use those skills?
Jennifer Jones: I did so when I was at
law school, I did the joint program.
So it's the, you get a law degree in
MBA and you go for an extra year and you
just go back and forth, like nonstop.
So I did that in four years, and
when I came out I definitely used
more of the MBA side of things.
So like I went into corporate not
corporate law, but I worked for
Ernst and Young and did mergers
and acquisitions consulting.
So that was more of the MBA side.
But like I said, having the law degree
definitely helped me in verbal, written
communication, and it helped me get jobs.
So when I first came out, I don't
know, it was like, it's very
competitive when you first come
out, that first, first couple jobs.
And I don't think there were
too many people that had
that combination of degrees.
And so at least, at the very
least employers were intrigued.
They would ask me, why
did I decide to do this?
You know what I mean?
They, 'cause like they looked at my
education and was like, okay, there's not
a lot of people with that combination.
So it did get me, it did open doors
for me, which is what I wanted.
But yeah, I worked more in the
business side, the corporate side.
And then after consulting I did a lot
of international business development
and business and economic development.
So I would say I used more of the MBA in
my career as an adult more than anything.
Linda Ostovitz: All of that
education and skillset caused you
to move to London, is that right?
Jennifer Jones: Yeah.
So I worked for, I was in LA
I went to law school in LA.
So I was working out there right after
law school and took the California bar.
So I was out there and then I worked for
Live Nation and I was in entertainment.
'Cause that's a big sector
out there, as you know.
So I worked for Live Nation in Los
Angeles and the UK Office of Live
Nation needed somebody in London
for a project, a short-term project.
So I went out there for a couple of
months and finished the project and
then they offered me a job and they
said, Hey, we would like to offer
you a full-time position out here.
So I think they told me that on Thursday,
and I wanna say Tuesday I was out there.
Linda Ostovitz: Too bad you
can't make a decision, right?
And you can't act on things.
Then you quickly dazzled them on
your short term project to have them
say, okay, we want all of you now.
Right?
Full time.
Good for you.
Good for you.
Well, that's interesting because
ultimately where you have ended
up is in a place where economic
development is all about business.
That will a little bit more, but you
had an interesting path to get to
where you are right now which started
with you coming back to Howard County
and getting introduced to the, let's
call it the political community, the
governmental community in Howard County.
Right.
Jennifer Jones: Mm-hmm.
Linda Ostovitz: Why did you come back?
Let's start with that.
Jennifer Jones: I came back
because as you alluded to earlier
my parents were getting older.
I wanted to be near them.
My dad was starting to have health
challenges, so I really wanted to
be, I was ocean away, so it was, it
was very hard for me to be there.
So I was there, was in London for
about seven years and then I came back.
And once I got back I I
contacted my old boss and said,
Hey, i'm back in the States.
Do you have any consulting?
'cause I wanted, I needed to fill
that gap until I figured out what
I wanted to do closer to home.
There wasn't anything that I was
looking at in Howard County right away.
So I did consulting work one of
my old bosses, which is great.
And then while I was doing that, I
was thinking, what do I want to do?
I wanna get a job close to Howard
County where the commute isn't a
long time to my parents' house.
As I was doing that , I was just
running into a bunch of different
people about Calvin Ball was running
for county executive at the time.
I was looked at his platform
for economic development,
other things for Howard County.
It became important for me 'cause I grew
up here and a lot of the things that, the
candidates were talking about was like
how to make Howard County better and how
to grow Howard County in different ways.
And it resonated with me 'cause
even though I was away for a
long time, it's still home.
So , I paid attention to the local
level politics and then after
that, he offered me a position
as his deputy chief of staff.
So I was like, this is great 'cause I
can work problems that affect Howard
County residents every single day.
And this is part of me giving back
to the community that helped me.
So I did everything, not just business
development and economic development.
I did other things.
So I was like doing things with the
Office of Veteran Affairs and Office
of Disabilities and things that I
didn't normally work on in my lifetime.
So I had to come up to speed on a lot
of county issues that had nothing to
do with business, which was also great.
So I worked with the library system and
I did things on some of the immigration
issues we were having at the time.
So a lot of issues that I, that
was not my background, that I
had to quickly come up to speed.
And it was good because it helped
me it rounded me out in terms of
what was going on at the local
level in the county that I love.
And so I did that for four years.
And just getting, get exposed to
everything from public safety, like I
said, all the way to, veteran issues.
And then after that I was like, okay, so.
I'm always like looking at myself
in ways how else can I help the
county, but also help me in terms
of professional growth and learning.
I felt like I had been exposed to a lot.
Dr.
Ball was very supportive of my career,
but I was like, okay, so now I want to
really hone in on what I, my background
and what I'm naturally good at.
I was doing a lot of things in the
government that naturally, I didn't
know anything about, like I was point
on agriculture and farming, which was
great 'cause I met a lot of farmers
and ag issues that I would never know.
But that's not my background.
Although they're businesses,
so that's my background.
But I was like, okay, now I can hone in
on what 20 years of experience can be.
And I think I could be more of a benefit
to the county in economic development.
'cause that's naturally my, what
I've learned over the years.
And so at the time, the previous CEO, he
was retiring and I was like, Hey, I think
I, it would be great for this position.
And Dr.
Ball nominated me and the board
voted and approved and here I am.
And I think that being in this
position, I'm using all the things
that I learned throughout my life.
And I think this is the first
position where that's happened.
'cause, other positions.
You use a part of what you've
learned 'cause it's just a
very niche kind of position.
But in this position, I have to not only
know economic development and business,
which I learned, in California and London.
But I have to know the county, which
I learned and its issues , even
the , non-economic development ones,
which I learned working for Dr.
Ball the first four years.
So I learned all those issues.
And then you also kind of gotta know,
the different parts of government
that can help you in this position.
So I've already knew all the directors
of the head of licensing and permitting,
the head of planning and zoning so
that when you have a business issue
that touches those things, I can
just call them, they already know me.
I don't have to come up to
speed on all that stuff.
So you have somebody that's already
tied to government operations.
And so I feel like those three things
has really helped me in this position and
I've tried to use that as an anchor to
to get our strategic plan implemented.
Linda Ostovitz: So all that experience
set you up and had you totally prepared
to step into the role of CEO of
the Economic Development Authority.
Jennifer Jones: I don't wanna say totally
prepared, but it gave good foundation.
Linda Ostovitz: You know what?
That's a good point too,
because I know you describe
yourself as a lifelong learner.
You're always thirsty for
learning something new.
We all do that and we
all should be like that.
But you stepped in with
such a strong background.
You also spent, before we dig into
economic development a little bit more,
you also spent some time in the political
arena though in connection with Dr.
Ball's campaigns,
Jennifer Jones: That's right.
Yeah, so when I was doing the
consulting, like I said, he was
running for county executive.
I didn't know who he was.
I just heard about his platform and I
was like, I really like his platform.
And he had like good points on,
education, the economy, the environment
and I just started seeing him in events
different places and would talk to his
campaign manager about different things.
And then, and I know
got to know that team.
And then the campaign manager asked me to
be his field director, which is basically
the person that's like responsible for,
the strategy about where you should
knock, where you should phone call,
which precincts you should focus on.
Which neighborhoods you need to like
work on which neighborhoods like you
just, and then basically all that leading
up to the election where you have to
get a ton people out to vote, right?
So you know where your base is and
you know where your people are.
So I had never done that before, I
feel like once again, that is also
another position where I felt like
I just pulled on all my experiences.
That's the other position where it's
okay, everything that I've learned
before, this is the same thing.
It's just in politics.
So numbers analysis, that's
the engineering part.
Analyzing numbers communicating with
people at the door, communicating
with people in general, but in a
bit, community events, all of that
just is the, it's the same skills.
It's just in a different position.
So I think it came, like it was
like a natural position for me.
There were hard parts to it that I
had to learn and everything, but it
was a natural position for me because
it's the same kind of thing that
like engineering and law taught me.
So I just pulled on the same skillset
and then since he, won the election
and then he offered me a position.
So I felt like that was great
and I didn't expect that either.
'Cause it was my first time and I know
when I took that position too, several
people were like who's Jennifer Jones?
Like, why?
Because most people grab folks from the
state or people that have been in that
political arena for a while, known names.
And the campaign manager didn't do that.
She just was like, Hey, I think you
know, you would be good for that.
And Dr.
Ball signed off . But I think she saw that
it might've been like a she also said,
I think this is a natural fit for you.
We had been at other events together and
things like that, I had asked questions
and done a bunch of things and she's
like, okay, so this is somebody that we
need is very analytical and breaks down
numbers and can deploy people where we
need to go to get people out to vote.
Yeah but I had never done that, and
then like I said, that led me into the
deputy chief of staff position and then.
Once I was there, deputy chief of staff,
I think you two years in or a year
and a half in or something like that.
Two years in.
I then became the Chief Strategy Officer
. Linda Ostovitz: I was going
to ask you about that.
But before we jump into the Chief Strategy
officer and what that involved I'm
just picturing almost this progression
of Jennifer Jones who have found
this terrific educational background.
And in the political arena, my
perception is you are knocking on
doors and getting to know the people,
Jennifer Jones: That's correct.
Linda Ostovitz: the people and
building this network of who you
know, because of what you were doing.
And then you rise to the level
of deputy chief of staff.
And my understanding is that
in that role, you had various
departments reporting to you.
Jennifer Jones: That's correct.
Linda Ostovitz: And so you're not
only getting to know the people
who run those, but the system,
if you will, the county move.
And now in economic development, you
used all of that to know who to reach
out to to make something happen.
To move all the blocks out of the way
so that something can go forward or
to make navigating the system easier
so it's something can go forward.
And that's something is you bringing a
new business to the county or helping
one that's already here with something
that they need to help 'em grow.
Jennifer Jones: Right.
And I love doing this.
I love working with
businesses, helping them grow.
And like I said, this position is
a little different 'cause the other
one was a political pointed position
with, this one's non-political.
So I don't, get into any of that stuff.
It's just like you're a business in
Howard County, I wanna help you grow or
you wanna come to Howard County for a
certain reason, I help you get there.
But you're right.
When you make phone calls or go to
community meetings or knock on doors and
you're talking to somebody one-on-one
and they're firing questions at you about
different things and you kind of come up
with the answer or figure out an answer.
If you don't know the answer,
figure it out and come back to them.
That like really gives you a
good foundation for talking to
business owners because they're
just like, they wanna succeed here.
They're raising their
families on their businesses.
They wanna know different things.
And I get the same type of thing.
I'm very comfortable now talking with
people talking about different resources.
If they're upset with something
in the county, triaging that to
right or solving the problem.
So it does set you up for
a lot of conversation.
And honestly it's strange
'cause I am an introvert.
Anybody that knows me, I am a introvert.
I usually, it's just weird.
But I don't feel like I'm odd
at all talking to business
owners or knocking on doors.
I don't know what that means, but I.
Yeah.
Yeah, people were surprised.
So yeah, I loved it.
I love it now.
I love this job.
Linda Ostovitz: Well, there's probably
somebody who is smart enough to
analyze you and put all that in a box.
What it means is you're a delight
to talk to and you're doing a great
job, and you've been building your
blocks to be such a huge success
at this for all of your career.
So you had mentioned that you
were the chief strategy officer.
Sounds like it added another
layer to your capabilities and
ability to use your background.
So what did you do as the
chief strategy Officer?
Jennifer Jones: So a lot of when
you work for the county or work in
government or in pretty much a lot
of jobs, a lot of what you do is
execution and implementation, right?
So you get a project, you get some
milestones and then you execute on it.
And that's a good skill to have.
You have to be able to take something that
somebody hands to you and execute quickly,
which I feel like I know how to do that.
I've done that before.
But sometimes, I think as you move up the
ladder and as you grow in your career, you
really need to zoom out and come up with
strategy and come up with different ideas.
And that takes a lot of it's a
different skillset, it's a different
way your brain works than just
taking something and executing on it.
And I feel like a lot of the chief
strategy officer position is just
basically looking at what we're
currently doing, what we're currently
doing across the agencies and looking
at, okay, so where are the gaps?
What else could we be doing?
How could we be optimizing this?
Is there anything else that we're missing?
, You're doing all these
things all the time.
You're completing these projects,
you're doing things for the residents,
but there's always something
that you could be doing better or
something that's not being addressed.
So stepping back and saying, okay,
looking at the whole portfolio,
what else could we be doing?
What is a project that we be working on?
What can we be doing to make
Howard County an even better place?
And so that sometimes takes,
you gotta switch your brain.
It is a different switch in your brain.
And so I felt like that particular
thing called on more of my law
and MBA more than the engineering.
'Cause engineering is more of you start
from a big like an inverted triangle.
You start, from the, like the base, the
big, and you hone down into something
like really, a tiny point where
you're solving the problem, right?
And the other thing is like the regular
standing triangle where you're trying to
start with something like at a pinpoint,
and then you're trying to expand up into
something broad that's harder for some
people, and it's a different skillset.
But the strategic strategy
officer helped me do that.
So I just basically worked with Dr.
Ball to look at okay, we're doing these
things in for instance for veterans.
We had these programs going, we're doing
these things for better known businesses.
What are we hearing out
there for the community?
What other initiatives should we be doing?
And that's what I focused on.
Basically just across the agencies.
Does that make sense?
So it's just, it was good for me to
do that because like I said, it's a
different switch in your brain and it
basically was what I do all the time now.
So it just, I I have a great team
here where I delegate things to,
and they execute and implement
and come up with great ideas too.
But I pretty much in this position, I
would say 70% of the time, am focused
on okay, we got this things going.
Think the train is running down the track.
What else am I missing?
What else am I seeing?
You have to constantly be looking
on the horizon on this position.
So that's the chief strategy
officer position helped me with
respect to this part of my job now.
And that thing about that is
your brain doesn't shut off.
You're always thinking about what's next.
You know what I mean?
Like when you run your own business, you
always gotta be thinking what's next?
What's, not working.
It's like it doesn't ever shut off.
Yeah.
And I really love coming with new ideas.
I have really great leadership
team that helps with some of
this stuff and they're very good.
So , I feel like I can say, Hey, I
think that we have some great loan
programs, but what are we missing?
What do we need to do?
What have you heard from businesses?
What loan programs have, we've been
doing, what incentives aren't we, does
the next county over do but we don't do
and let's analyze some things and figure
out who can come out with a new product.
Let's try to do that.
So we do stuff like that.
And I feel like you have to always be
iterating and growing in this position.
And so that's what we're doing.
So like last year we rolled out a
new flex line of credit program to
compliment our other loan funding
programs for businesses, which is great.
This year we also for our business
development team, we really honed
in on our international initiatives.
And we went on two international trips.
So we looked at like at the top
of last year, what do we need to
be doing and implement and going
on and we did successful trip
to the uk, Ireland, and Germany.
And then just past June
we did one to Canada.
Things like that where you always
need to just be thinking about what's
next and what will benefit businesses
here that we currently aren't doing.
Linda Ostovitz: You just addressed some
of it, but you know, from a mission,
broad picture point of view, what does
the Economic Development Authority do?
What is your primary mission?
I guess start with that.
Jennifer Jones: So by the primary
mission is to, make sure that
businesses have what they need.
If they're here, make sure that
they have, they need to grow
and expand here in the county.
So over business retention and
expansion for the current businesses.
And I would say that's a large majority
because after COVID, businesses can
generally be anywhere now and hire people.
So the fact that they're in Howard
County is the, it's very important.
They can move anywhere and still
hire because a lot of people
are hybrid and remote, right?
So businesses don't have like
jurisdictional lines like they used to.
So that is important.
Making sure businesses grow and thrive
and then making sure that we attract new
businesses to the county is important.
And also generally promoting Howard County
is a great place to live, work, and grow.
Howard County is like right in the middle
of state, we're right in the middle
of the Baltimore Washington corridor.
We have a lot of strategic advantages.
We have a great school system.
We have great parks.
People come here 'cause they want
their families to, have like green
spaces and a great education.
And I think that helping promote
Howard County as business friendly
and saying, Hey, not only do you come
here for your kids, you can come here
and start your business and support
your family here, so on your business.
And that's our job to do that.
And then fill in any other gaps,
like if there's gaps with workforce
development or any other thing.
But I think that strengthening
that business ecosystem and
promoting Howard County are the
two broad things that we do.
Linda Ostovitz: Well, that's a big job.
How big the team that you run to
help you accomplish that mission.
Jennifer Jones: I have
24 people on the team.
And I think there are places
that are a little bigger than
us and a little smaller, but
that's like around 24, 25 people.
Yeah.
And the teams are broken out into, like
I said, we have our business development
team that they're the engine that goes
out and talks to established businesses.
They boots on the ground, are
visiting businesses all day, getting
feedback about, different things.
And then we have our innovation
center, which is, we help startups.
It's you come here, you can incubate
with us, go through our programs,
and then we make you stronger
business and accelerate your growth.
And so we have that.
And then we have our business
finance team, which helps with
loan programs and incentives.
So funding programs, a line of credit
that we talked about, a couple of
our microloan program, our catalyst
loan fund that helps businesses grow.
And we have that.
And then we have our marketing
team that market, Howard County
and markets our services.
And does a lot of work with the
county exec's office in terms of
collaboration and marketing the county.
Then we have a strategy team,
and they basically focus on
revitalization, redevelopment projects.
I have a data person that focuses a
lot of on research and data analytics.
A lot of the other agencies come up to
us and say, Hey, we need data on this.
Can you supply it?
So we supply data to a lot of the
government agencies on economics and
businesses and also the community also.
So that's basically how we're structured.
And then each of those groups
have a head of that business unit
and that's my leadership team.
We meet weekly, the leadership
team and we roll out strategies
and things like that from there.
And then I report to a board.
Just so you know, so like I'm
quasi-governmental, so like I
said, I work a lot at the county
exec's office and he funds us.
However we're quai governmental 'cause I
have a board, a director, so I report to
the chair and they work with me on the
strategic planning and things like that.
Linda Ostovitz: It's interesting 'cause
I had wondered, I guess when I first
became aware of economic development.
Is it a governmental agency
or is it something else?
And it really is something else.
More like a business than
it does like the government.
Right?
But you interact so much with
governmental, like agencies, departments,
et cetera, to get anything done.
So when you came into your role,
you succeeded a CEO would been
in the role for a long time, 10
years, 12 years, something like
Jennifer Jones: Yeah, I think it
was I wanna say 12 or 13 years.
Yes.
Linda Ostovitz: Okay.
And I, it is my perception anyway,
that a lot of the people who worked in
the economic development arena for the
county, not for the county, for its board,
had also been there for a long time.
What was it like stepping into a
role that had been shaped by the
individual who held that position.
When you're Jennifer,
you're not Larry Tweel.
How do you go in there and make
it your own and establish your
own goals and make it all work?
Jennifer Jones: Oh yeah, I mean
that, it's a good question.
So you have to, take it, and this is
the engineering piece of my brain.
You gotta take it in bite-size pieces.
'cause if you come in and you're just
like, I want everybody to know who I am,
and you do it all at once, it's just,
it's overwhelming and it's too much.
So what I did was , right before I came
in, there had been a strategic plan that I
was working on from the county exec side,
with all the stakeholders for the EDA.
So that plan had officially got
approved, and it already had buy-in
from everybody, from the stakeholders.
So what I did when I came in is I
broke that strategic plan down, and
then it's a very high level plan.
And I put my own tactics and
initiatives under those like six
things that we said we were gonna do.
Like the 30,000 foot goals that we
set, we were gonna do in the plan.
Basically just worked the
plan that everybody agreed on.
So that first year you work the plan
that everybody agrees on and then you
align the organization to that plan.
So I did some reworking
of the organization.
The alignment, like with the groups
that I told you about, formed those
official groups that, 'cause they
weren't there, all of them were
not there when I first got here.
Just be, it was business development
in the innovation center, but
those other groups were not there.
So I formed those groups
based on the strategic plan.
And then just I literally at the top
of the year, the fiscal year, I sat
with each of the groups and we just
broke down okay , for each of the
goals under each of the priorities
that we had, what are the milestones?
When are we gonna have it done?
What's going on?
And we just used that throughout the year
and everybody had agreed to the plan.
So I just worked it and just
implemented that, executed that.
You know exactly the way
we said we were going to.
So that first year is like a baseline
of okay, Jennifer can come in, take
an organization and execute the
way we agreed to with the plan.
Get everybody comfortable with that.
So that's what I did on
that first year I would say.
And so it was a lot of internal
work working with the staff.
I hired some new staff and I
think that after that first year,
obviously we're doing a lot of the
same things that Larry was doing.
Obviously the business retention
expansion and things like that.
But we did add some things and I think
that first year everybody said, okay.
She's gonna continue what worked
well and then add some things that
we added to the plan and we're
comfortable that she can do that.
It's every job you gotta prove yourself,
which I don't have a problem with.
And so I did that and I think after that
people were like, okay, she, we can see
this is the direction this organization
is going on and we're on board because
the direction was like laid out in the
plan and what we thought, what everybody
said we needed to do post COVID.
And I think my team did a
really great job of doing that.
And I also during that first year,
reintroduce myself to as in this new
position to people that already knew
me from the other position, right?
Working with Dr.
Ball.
I met with the council members.
I talked to some of the members of the
general Assembly that are here, that
the political people I talked to, the
businesses that already knew me, which
was good because they were already
familiar with me, but what that meant to
be in this new role, what I'm gonna do.
I already knew all the people, all the
players, but I was just like reintroducing
myself in this role and executing
this plan that everybody agreed to.
That's basically how
I just conquered that.
I didn't think about it as
oh, it's, this is horrible.
I'm gonna have to come in here
and let, make everybody like me
because they, they like Larry.
He was here for 13 years.
Okay, that's fine.
I'm, they like Larry, but they, I'm
different and they can like me too.
I just I felt like that plan gave
me a really good way to, to do that.
Now I'm just adding onto it, like doing
more regional stuff, working with greater
Baltimore Committee and other regional
organizations to promote the region.
Helping, not just being isolated with
Howard County, strengthening partnerships
with people across in other counties.
Like I work closely with some
organizations, some economic
organizations in Baltimore City,
because it's a regional play.
You can't really do
everything on your own.
I work closely with the other CEOs
of the other economic development
organizations on in the state.
We have a weekly call and so I do that.
And I think like I said, through
partnerships and having a great team.
Being very clear and transparent
about what the goals are
for economic development.
I think, people have pretty much,
happy with what we're doing.
Linda Ostovitz: Using that
plan was really brilliant.
It was noncontroversial, and
it wasn't about Larry either.
It was the plan.
So you start with something
that's non-controversial and
obviously build on top of that.
How would you describe your
management style, Jennifer?
Jennifer Jones: That's a good question.
So I think my management style is pretty
much to, like I said, I meet with my
leadership team each week to set my
expectations and goals and to get their
feedback on things that are going on and
any things that they wanna add to it.
And my management style is , once we have
the goals and it's transparent across the
organization what everybody's supposed
to do, I don't like to micromanage.
I like to be able to delegate and then
check in and then iterate if need be.
And I'm not the kind of leader that's
okay, I wanna do this new thing.
Then give me something in
six weeks when it's all done.
And then let me see it.
I like to build the plane in the air.
You have different types of
personalities and some personalities
are very perfectionist, right?
Other types of folks, i'm like, I do
not need it perfect, but I need constant
iteration and building in the air.
So I'm the person that will roll get
something to like about 85%, roll it out,
and then iterate while we're doing it.
You can't wait all the time for 12
weeks for everybody to be perfect
for something, you know what I mean?
Sometimes you need to
get something moving.
So I would say I am an agile leader,
like I have high level goals and
then I'm like, let's get moving now
and then just continue building it
in the air and get it rolled out.
I think you have to be like that
because the things that are going on
now, like at the federal level, at the
state level, things are moving fast.
You don't have the, luxury to wait
around for five months to put something
together to help businesses or to help
the residents here when they're going
through a lot that they're going through.
Like if you're a federal worker or
whatever, you better sometimes say, okay.
Federal workers are getting laid off.
We gotta put together a workshop.
Okay do we know what's going on right now?
Call a couple people and let's get a date
on the calendar and let's get a speaker.
And let's do the first one and might
not answer everybody's question,
but at least we're put it out
there and we get some mechanism
for feedback from federal workers.
So we did that.
So we usually have a business
expo two times out of the year.
This past spring we had one and
that was like right around, the
federal people were getting laid
off and it was like three weeks out.
And we had some, maybe three or four
weeks out, and we had our business expo.
We were originally gonna be doing it
as a general expo, and then we were
like, we need to pivot this to make
sure it targets federal workers.
And if you are a federal worker
and you wanna start a business.
This is how you do it and
get some speakers in here.
So I was like, let's just do it.
And people were saying, well, it's
like we only have three weeks.
Well we can do it.
We have to do something.
So I'm that kinda leader and
they know that about me now.
So I'd rather have something
that's like 85%, but we get it
out quicker and help people than
have it perfect and wait, forever.
Linda Ostovitz: I love that.
Build it in the air.
You gotta do something and you learn
so much building it in the air, right?
You get the benefit of
other people's thoughts.
One of your brand new things that's
been unrolled this year is the
Cyber Howard Accelerator program.
What is the Cyber Howard Accelerator
program that you have created?
Jennifer Jones: Yeah the Cyber Howard
Accelerator program is a program
geared towards cyber companies that
have products and their product
ready to get customers with.
But a lot of times with you have
a product, you think it's ready
and it might not be ready to the
point where a customer can get it
and get what they need out of it.
So the Cyber Howard Accelerator is there
to market test it, get feedback from
industry experts, talk to people in the
field about your product and hone it
and accelerate its optimization and its
growth so that at the end of the 12 weeks
you're really ready to pitch your product,
go to investors, things like that.
We had a cohort that just
graduated a couple weeks ago.
It was eight companies, and then we have
another cohort coming up in September.
And this past cohort was really great.
One company went through the
accelerator and they honed their
product and they got acquired.
So it was a great win.
Yeah, so it was great.
One other one actually they worked
with us on the European delegation
trip that I talked about, and
they got a JV partner out there.
It's just basically you know, when you're
an entrepreneur it's a lonely thing.
You could think your product is the
greatest thing in the world and it could
be, but it could always be tested and
making sure it's really market ready.
And so just challenging these companies
and saying, Hey, tweak this, do this.
And then it gets you
ready for investment also.
'cause you might be looking for
equity investor or things like that.
So that's basically what it is,
just to accelerate growth and make
sure your products is where it
needs to be when it hits the market.
Linda Ostovitz: Well,
congratulations on that.
And the first class just
graduated that last week.
We were talking on the phone and
you, your next thing to do was
to go to a graduation, right?
Yeah.
Jennifer Jones: That was it.
Linda Ostovitz: That's great.
So the last thing I wanna ask you
about, Jennifer, is what's next for
economic development in Howard County?
What should we look for?
Jennifer Jones: Yeah, I think that this
is really a good place for economic
development and where we are now because,
there are a lot of things going on at
the state level and the federal level
that I lead to where I feel like the only
way to grow the state of Maryland and to
grow the counties in Maryland is through
economic development and economic growth.
We know we're facing a budget
challenge, at the state level.
You know, people are getting laid off
at the federal level and I think a
lot of people, obviously you need to
tighten your belt within that situation
and cut back on economic development
programs because you're saving, like
short term budget wise, budget things.
But I think the only way to fight
your way out of something like this
is through economic development.
So you might need to spend money
on certain programs, but long term
it gets you out of stagnation.
It gets you out of negative growth.
And I think that, that's where we are now.
I think that, me and all the other
economic development heads of the state
really need to, meet look at our budgets
and talk with our county executives and
our mayors and the state and really put
together, a message that, Maryland is
here for growth, Maryland is business
friendly and this is how you do it.
And it's a grassroots type thing.
You gotta do it from the local level up.
And I don't think you can really
do it from the state down.
And I think this is a great time in
terms of that for economic development.
In terms of really honing in and
expanding our programs, keeping
the programs that we have.
We need to do all of that.
We need to have all the tools in the
toolbox to get us out of a negative
growth trend that we have in the state.
And I think, the governor's talked
about that too, how he, it should
be a business friendly state.
He wants to encourage
certain lighthouse sectors.
And I think that we might need
to spend a little money now
to reap the benefits later.
So I know that might be
controversial because a lot of
times people say we're in a deficit.
Where are we gonna get the
money from and what's going on?
And we need to cut back
on these programs, but.
I honestly think that if you cut back
on economic development programs, yes
you'll balance the budget now, but in 10
years, 20 years from now, I don't think
it's good for the state of Maryland.
Linda Ostovitz: Well in the future, right?
Like for many.
Well, Jennifer, thank you so
much for joining me today.
It's interesting to me how in your mind
even you compartmentalize your skills.
And here's where I use this and
here's where I use that, but my
goodness, when you put 'em all
together, you are a power house.
We are so lucky in Howard
County to have you driving the
economic development engine.
So thank you for that.
I appreciate it.
I'm a Howard County resident and
have been all my life basically
like we discussed, so thank you for
doing the good work that you do.
Please keep it up.
And again, thank you so
much for joining us today.
Jennifer Jones: Thank you for having me.
It's great to see you.
Linda Ostovitz: My pleasure.