Steve Weathers, CEcD
President & CEO
Erie County Industrial Development Agency
Buffalo, NY
Steve Weathers was named President and CEO of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency in 2013. Prior to his role at the Erie County IDA, Steve was President and CEO of the World Trade Center San Diego. He also served as the President and CEO of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, where he led the effort to launch the World Trade Center Savannah as part of fully integrated international economic development strategy. Steve has also served as CEO and President of the Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) where he led Rocket Ventures as its President & Managing Director. During his time at RGP in Toledo, Ohio, the organization assumed a leadership role that led to the creation of more than 7,200 new high-paying, high-skilled jobs in the region. Steve led the effort to create Rocket Ventures (RV), the region’s first ever pre-seed venture capital fund. Rocket Ventures grew to become a $22.5 million early-state investment fund comprised of $7.5 million of private investment capital, as well as a $15 million grant from the State of Ohio. Rocket Ventures created more than 70+ new technology companies in a three-year period.
Steve has been in economic development for more than 20 years, with 11 of those years in San Diego, California as Vice President of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. Through the years, Steve has been involved in the attraction retention, growth and start-up of more than 500 companies. Some of his most significant and notable successes during his economic development career have been the attraction of the Novartis Genomic Research Center, Gateway Computers headquarters, the LEGO Theme Park and the SPAWAR Defense headquarters to the San Diego region, as well as the attraction of the GEICO, Citigroup and Intuit Software national service centers to the Tucson region.
Currently, Steve serves on the board of the International Economic Development Council, State of New York Economic Development Council, Red Cross of Western New York, The Beverly Gray Entrepreneurial Center (a women and minority business incubator).