Dr. Alfie Meek
Director of Innovation & Impact

Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Center

Fiscal Impact and How It Relates to Economic Development

    

Dr. Meek has 20 years of experience in economic/fiscal impact analysis and community-based research.  Before joining EI², Alfie served for nine years as the Chief Economist and Director of Economic Development for the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners.  In that role, he was integral in the development and implementation of Partnership Gwinnett, a community-wide strategic plan that was named the best multi-year economic development program for large communities by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in 2010. Before his time in Gwinnett County, he spent three years as the Director of Applied Research at The University of Georgia’s Business Outreach Services and Small Business Development Center, and served for five years on the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an economist and project director for the Center for Economic Development Services.  Preceding his tenure at Georgia Tech, Alfie was the Research Economist for SunTrust Banks, Inc.

Current areas of special focus include economic/fiscal impact analysis, forecasting and modeling, work-force issues, tax policy analysis, and target industry analysis.  In addition to his research, Dr. Meek speaks widely on topics relating to economic impact and economic development.  Dr. Meek has also written for economic development-related publications, as well as other periodicals.  His research on the size and economic impact of the sports industry in the United States was published in Sports Marketing Quarterly.  This research has been written about and cited in numerous publications – USA Today, Georgia Trend, Financial Times London, Fortune Magazine, and Investor’s Business Daily among others.

Alfie is an active member of the National Association for Business Economics, and is past president of the Atlanta Economics Club.  He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from The University of Georgia; a Master of Science in Business Economics from Georgia State University; and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.