Dan Henderson, CEcD

Real Estate & Economic Development Director
Gilbert, AZ


Mr. Dan Henderson is currently the Director for the Gilbert, Arizona Office of Economic Development and is responsible for attracting, growing and expanding business and industry. In this executive leadership role with Gilbert, he oversees the administration of a $2.2 million dollar departmental budget and a $5 million dollar reserve fund for deal closing. The Gilbert Office of Economic Development earned the Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) status through the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), and ended Fiscal Year 2018 as the State of Arizona Economic Development Organization of the Year with transactional activity exceeding $300,000,000.

Prior to his employment with Gilbert he was employed by the City of Tempe for six years as an Economic Development Specialist where he was responsible for implementing projects and programs that support commercial, office, and industrial expansion. In that role, he provided financial and economic information to existing businesses including the availability of state and local incentive programs, workforce/job training initiatives, and financial assistance programs.

Prior to his employment with the City of Tempe, Dan was employed by Raymond James Consulting, a national technology and solution delivery consulting group where he provided pre/post technical expertise, positioning strategies, requirements definition, market and business analysis, project management, application development and data warehousing/business intelligence solutions.

Dan has served as a contract consultant with IBM Global Business Services and other national services firms where he acted as a Business Analyst and Project Manager on various business intelligence and facility acquisition projects. He started his career as the Manager of Foreign Direct Investment for the World Trade Center and was accountable for program development activities targeting European markets and international trade.

Mr. Henderson is a Certified Economic Developer and holds an undergraduate degree in Management and Finance and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Computer Information Systems. He is an Adjunct Faculty member for Chandler-Gilbert Community College in the Business and Computer Studies Division and is a graduate of Tempe Leadership.