Ana Liss
Managing Director of Business Development, Consultant, and Project Manager in Rochester, New York
I am the Managing Director of Business Development at Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE), the business attraction and economic development engine responsible for stimulating growth in the 9-county Finger Lakes region. In collaboration with stakeholders, I work to guide and implement economic development projects, including fulfillment of the $500 million Upstate Revitalization Initiative and ventures tied to the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council. I am a frontline contact for international corporate site selectors and companies seeking to expand or locate in Rochester and the Finger Lakes.
After time spent as a TV news anchor and reporter in two news markets, I developed interest in finding solutions to struggles faced by small- and mid-sized cities in New York amid the onslaught of the Great Recession. I left news to pursue graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where I completed a fellowship at a regional economic think tank and gained experience in research, analysis, and project management geared towards shoring up regional prosperity.
Subsequent roles included serving as a consultant to fiscally-stressed communities for the Center for Governmental Research; launching and managing New York’s first Economic Gardening program for GRE; and the prestigious Empire State Fellowship, through which I served the office of Governor Andrew Cuomo as a policy advisor and analyst in Albany from 2013-2015. I most recently worked for Cornell University’s S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management as Manager of Corporate Relations, nurturing the vital links between higher education and industry.
I hold an MPA from Penn and a magna cum laude BA in Journalism from the Ithaca College Park School of Communications; as well as an MBA certificate in Innovation Management and Technology Transfer from SUNY. I am a passionate advocate for fostering economic opportunity across New York and all over the globe through innovative policies and programs to reinforce business expansion, entrepreneurship, and talent retention.
For more on what I do and my writing style, check out this piece I recently authored for the Democrat and Chronicle about Rochester's tech talent marketplace: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/opinion/guest-column/2016/11/26/talent-rochester-winning-game/94455656/