Richard Blackwell
Vice President of Development, Southeast Office
Richard serves as the Vice President of Development for the Southeast Region. His focus is providing both development and acquisition solutions on the industrial real estate front for both companies and communities.
He is committed to being collaborative and adaptive with market demands while simultaneously being fiduciary to the clients’ and partners’ needs. His approach to development and redevelopments in the industrial sector has resulted in unparalleled process and delivery that introduces a level of expertise that uniquely complements build-to-suit site analysis and development.
Richard cultivated his strong business acumen throughout his more than 20 years of experience in both local and regional economic development, investor relations, real estate development and public policy. He has earned recognition for his economic development work by being named one of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers by Consultant Connect, the “local/regional economic development director of the year” by the Upstate South Carolina Alliance and serves at the pleasure of South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster as his appointee to be the District 3 representative on the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority Board (SC JEDA). Blackwell earned a “Master Practitioner” (EcDMP) designation as a member of the inaugural class of the Advanced Economic Development Leadership (AEDL) program and is a “South Carolina Certified Economic Developer” (SCCED) via certification through the SC dept. of Commerce and the South Carolina Economic Developers’ Association.
Blackwell believes “jobs change family trees” and welcomes the challenge of working with clients to find success that creates economic ripple effects.
EDUCATION
University of South Carolina, M.A. in Public Administration
University of South Carolina, B.A. in Political Science
Duke University, Certificate in Non-Profit Management
Clemson University, Certificate in Leadership
University of Oklahoma, Graduate of the Economic Development Institute
MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS
NAIOP • SIOR • CCIM • IAMC • GEDA • VEDA • Southern Economic Development Council, Member of the Executive Committee & Board of Directors • SCEDA, Past Board Member & Two-Time President