News & Events
International economic council honors New Mexicans
16 October 2013
Article By: Albuquerque Business First | Dennis Domrzalski
Four New Mexico economic development experts have been honored for their work in the field by the International Economic Development Council at the organization’s annual conference in Philadelphia.
Mark Lautman, owner of Lautman Economic Architecture, was awarded Fellow Member status with “unusual stature,” the IEDC said in a news release.
“The term ‘unusual stature’ characterizes a member’s substantial contributions to the profession through service to IEDC and/or academic ventures directly related to the practice of economic development,” said IEDC Chair Paul Krutko. “Mr. Lautman serves as a premier example of one who has made just such contributions and we are proud to have bestowed Fellow Member status upon him.”
Noreen Scott, director of the Rio Rancho Economic Development Corp., and Linda Kay Jones of Silver City were elected as Fellows to the IEDC, Lautman said in a telephone interview.
Rio Rancho resident Jack Allston, a member of the Albuquerque-based Community Economics Lab, was elected as an honorary life member to the IEDC, and CELab member Jim Kinnett of Indiana was also named an IEDC Fellow, Lautman said.
During his 30-year career, Lautman has designed and managed economic development programs in Grants, Rio Rancho, Santa Teresa and Mesa del Sol.
Lautman, a 1971 graduate of the University of New Mexico, and a former Peace Corps volunteer, is the author of “When the Boomers Bail,” a book that describes the changing economic development game.
“It is always great when your peers honor you,” Lautman told Albuquerque Business First. “I’ve been spending most of the past 10 years trying to move the profession more towards tackling the workforce issues that are going to drive the economic development business in the future.”
The IEDC is a nonprofit group with more than 4,000 members.