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Ted Abernathy serves as the Managing Partner of Economic Leadership, LLC. Economic Leadership, based in Shallotte, NC, is a small group of data, strategy, and policy experts working with private and public clients to analyze competitiveness, develop strategy, support leadership, and reimagine the future. Over the past nine years, the team has worked on 146 projects in more than twenty states and internationally. He has authored numerous reports for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which have led to some of the most significant economic policy changes in the last decade. Ted is the principal author of close to 100 reports on future trends, economic and workforce development, technology, and leadership, and he speaks on the economy almost every week. He currently serves as an economic advisor to the Council of State Chambers and previously held a similar position to the Southern Governor’s Association.

In his 42-year career, Ted has led city, county, and regional economic development organizations and an economic policy think tank. Born in Dallas, North Carolina, Ted received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and his master’s from Johns Hopkins University, is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute and is an Eisenhower Fellow for global economics.  

He and his wife live in a small town on the North Carolina coast and share their backyard with hundreds of sea birds and quite a few alligators.