Debi Sandlin is the new executive director of the Southeast Fairfax Development Corp. The group, dedicated to rejuvenating the Route 1 corridor, is navigating uncertain economic times. Despite a sour economy, the area is slated to see a boon from thousands of new military jobs coming to Fort Belvoir, which is creating great demand for development.
You spent eight years as Manassas’ economic development chief. How did you get into this field?
It was an accident. Most of my peers fell into economic development by accident. We all come from diverse and different backgrounds. Economic development as we know it, with organizations and agencies who are responsible for attracting business and working with existing businesses to expand and grow, is really still fairly new. … You’ll be hard-pressed to find any university that actually offers a curriculum in economic development as we have come to know it.
I know you’re still only weeks on the job — any early impressions of where you could take Route 1 and what you could bring to it?
It’s really a community effort; it would really be very presumptuous of me to say what my vision of the corridor is. I see my role more as a facilitator in working with the various community organizations and businesses up and down the highway, and working together to create an image and a vision that we can go out and sell. … We are really a premier location with Fort Belvoir right at our front doorstep. We need to be able to position ourselves to take advantage of that opportunity.
Is it difficult in this economy to be an economic development professional?
Yes. It is difficult. But having said that, it’s also an opportunity for us to re-examine what we’ve been doing, how we’ve been doing it, what’s working, what’s not working, and put a plan in place to position us to be ready to seize the opportunity when the economy starts turning around.
