Economic Development 2023: DOUG SMITH

PRESIDENT AND CEO, HAMPTON ROADS ALLIANCE, NORFOLK

Published August 30, 2023 by Virginia Business

After serving as Norfolk’s city manager and Virginia Beach’s deputy city manager, Smith now leads the Hampton Roads Alliance, the regional economic development organization representing 14 municipalities and numerous private-sector investors.

For the past four years, Smith and his team have helped establish Hampton Roads as an important center in the offshore wind industry, as work progresses on Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach. Back on land, there are plans for manufacturing turbine blades in Portsmouth, as well as fabrication, assembly and maintenance operations in the region. The alliance is also helping to develop a regional energy roadmap.

Smith was president and CEO of Kaufman & Canoles Consulting for four years, and he serves on several boards, including the Virginia Peninsula Chamber, Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, and the newly founded Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable.

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