Tennille Sees Economic Development, Education as 'Two Sides of the Same Coin'

Photo Submitted

Grant Tennille

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Grant Tennille, the executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, says higher education and Arkansas’ economic future must go hand-in-hand.

“AEDC’s partnership with the university and the Walton College is a critical component in our effort to expand Arkansas’s economy,” Tennille said. “Cutting-edge research performed at the U of A helps to create new companies in Arkansas, and Walton College candidates are our state’s future business leaders.”

Tennille will be on campus Friday, Feb. 21, to deliver the inaugural lecture in the Sam M. Walton College of Business M.B.A. distinguished speakers series. His talk, “Education and Economic Development: Two Sides of the Same Coin,” will be at 9 a.m. in the auditorium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development at the University of Arkansas. It is free and open to the public.

“I’m always happy to spend time on campus because I always see and learn something exciting,” Tennille said.

“We are honored and excited to have Grant Tennille kick off our M.B.A. distinguished speakers series,” Eli Jones, Walton College dean, said. “This will deepen the ongoing exchange of ideas about Arkansas’ economic future between government leaders and Walton College and University of Arkansas experts.”

Also on Feb. 21, students, faculty and staff are invited to a briefing by Tennille and other commission directors on the state’s priority sectors for investment and development. The briefing begins at 10:30 a.m. in the Reynolds auditorium and will include time for questions. Refreshments will be served at 11:30 a.m. to encourage networking and further exchange of ideas. Tennille will be accompanied by Becky Thompson, commission deputy director for global business, and Bentley Story, director of business development. The briefing also is open to the public.

Tennille, a member of the Walton College Dean’s Executive Advisory Board, is former deputy chief of staff to Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe. He graduated in 1992 from Kenyon College in Ohio before moving to Arkansas to work as a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He later worked as a communications assistant in the Arkansas governor's office and at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission from 1996 to 1998.

In 1998, Tennille worked for The Thompson Group, a telecommunications consulting firm, before joining Qwest Communications International Inc. in 2001 as senior director of Public Policy Planning and Advocacy. In 2004, Tennille was named vice president of The Distribution Point in Birmingham, Ala. He returned to Arkansas in the fall of 2007 to join the governor’s office as deputy chief of staff and communications director. He was named interim economic development commission executive director in 2011 and director in 2012.