John Loyack is the Vice President of Global Business Services at The Economic Development Partnership of NC (EDPNC). In this role, John leads the department composed of the EDPNC regional offices, the International Trade Division and the small business counseling team known as Business Link North Carolina. This team supports North Carolina businesses in everything from starting up a new enterprise to expanding an existing business to the development of export strategies aimed at increasing international sales.

As Executive Director of Industry Expansion Solutions (IES) at NC State University, Phil’s team is an outreach unit of the College of Engineering with a focus of providing technical assistance to small and midsized manufacturers helping them with applying best practices to ensure competitiveness and profitable growth. His team also provides education and resources that allow smaller manufacturers to understand and make decisions on using next-generation techniques and technologies within their production operations. IES also administers the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NCMEP) which is the state affiliate of the MEP National Network at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) providing coordinated access to resources and solutions that serve to ensure competitiveness for smaller manufacturers.

As the Director of Economic & Policy Analysis in Commerce’s Labor & Economic Analysis Division, Jeff leads a team of analysts and economists in assessing North Carolina’s economy and workforce. He regularly advices local and state leaders on current conditions and trends. He also oversees the development of industry and occupational employment projections; the identification of growing jobs and employers’ workforce needs; economic impact analyses; NC’s career information system, NCcareers.org; and various publications and tools to help economic development, workforce development, and education entities, as well as the people of North Carolina, make informed economic decisions.

As the Assistant Director of Research Development and Evaluation at NC State Industry Expansion Solutions, Dominick Stephenson is responsible for managing grant and program evaluation projects throughout the lifecycle including client engagement, evaluation design, data collection and analysis, instrument design and report writing. His current work focuses on workforce development, community college and STEM programs and it crosses over local, state and federal agencies. Dominick also has a background in strategic planning and supports grant writing for IES and NCMEP strategic initiatives.