{"66486":{"#nid":"66486","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Economics Alumnus Alfred Meek Named Director of EI2\u0027s Community Innovation Services","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0027s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) has named School of Economics alumnus Alfie Meek as director of Community Innovation Services (CIS). \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeek was previously employed as the Director of the Economic Analysis Division with the Gwinnett County Department of Financial Services, where he oversaw the county\u0027s economic development program and was responsible for its forecasting and research efforts. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeek\u0027s new role will be managing the CIS team, which supports communities with economic and community development research, analysis, and planning, in addition to advising government leaders on how to be competitive in the ever-changing global economy. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The opportunity to take my previous research experience with the university system, combine it with the applied knowledge that comes from doing economic development at the local level, and use that unique combination to help other communities was a very attractive prospect,\u201d said Meek of his decision to join EI2. \u201cAnd as a huge bonus, I get to do all this at a place that is very dear to my heart, my alma mater, Georgia Tech.\u0022 \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeek holds a Bachelor\u0027s Degree from Georgia Tech in Business Economics, as well as a Master\u0027s in Business Economics from Georgia State University and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/communities\/economist-alfie-meek-named-director-community-innovation-services\/\u0022\u003ERead EI2\u0027s announcement about Meek\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27192","created_gmt":"2011-06-13 13:18:26","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:53","author":"Benjamin Chapman","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-06-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-06-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"66487":{"id":"66487","type":"image","title":"Alfred Meek","body":null,"created":"1449177169","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:12:49","changed":"1475894592","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:12","alt":"Alfred Meek","file":{"fid":"192555","name":"alfie-meek.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/alfie-meek_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/alfie-meek_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":71820,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/alfie-meek_0.jpg?itok=mp3yKIF5"}}},"media_ids":["66487"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[{"id":"13386","name":"Alfred Meek"},{"id":"9040","name":"EI2"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane - 404-894-1720\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}