Martin Named SEDC Honorary Life Member

William A. Martin

The Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC) bestowed its highest honor, Honorary Life Membership, upon Bill Martin, CEO of the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation, at its annual conference in New Orleans.

Bill Martin has been a professional economic developer since 1973. In 1981, Bill became the first Executive Director of Leavenworth (KS) Area Development (LAD), a countywide economic development group. Also that year, Bill was a founding member of the Kansas Industrial Developers Association (KIDA) and was among the twenty original SEDC members from Kansas who petitioned to join the SEDC region.

During eighteen years in Kansas (at LAD and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce), Bill served on the KIDA board twice, including a term as President. Bill was also active in SEDC, serving as Kansas Alternate Director, State Director and Western Regional Director. In 1994, Bill was elected Secretary of SEDC. He moved through the chairs and served as SEDC President in 1997.

Among the accomplishments during his service as an officer of SEDC were helping lead a joint effort between Kansas and Missouri to hold an educational event in Kansas City (for the first time since 1980), writing a “How To” on developing speculative buildings, co-chairing a bid to hold the Annual Conference in Kansas City, initiating the Legislative Summit in conjunction with nine professional economic development organizations, initiating a cooperative marketing program for SEDC members, developing partnerships with the CUED and AEDC, sponsoring an economic development “short course” with Georgia Tech and increasing SEDC’s presence on the Internet.

SEDC had 1,500 members the year Bill was President. He was proud of being able to meet with State Associations in Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Kentucky during the year. Bill also served as Chair of the Kansas Volunteer of the Year program for three years, judged the VOTY program for SEDC one year and served as Master of Ceremonies at two SEDC Volunteer of the Year banquets.

In 1999, Bill moved to Washington State to serve as President of the Tri-City Industrial Development Council. Even though he became a founding member of the Washington Economic Development Association (Vice President) and the Pacific Northwest Economic Development Council, Bill maintained his membership in and support of SEDC. Bill and his wife, Esperanza, attended all four SEDC Annual Conferences during the four years they spent in Washington State.

Bill moved to North Carolina in 2003 to merge four local organizations into the Cumberland County Business Council. In 2007, Bill became the first Chief Executive Officer of the Harlingen (TX) Economic Development Corporation. Bill Martin has been a member of SEDC continuously since 1981.

Bill Martin is a Kansas native and an honor graduate of Emporia (KS) State University. Bill became a Certified Economic Developer in 1986 and served on the AEDC Certification Board, the committee that sets the standards for professionalism, for four years.

For additional information contact