Lynn A. Knight, CEcD

Vice President of Knowledge Management & Development
International Economic Development Council
Washington, DC


Lynn A. Knight, CEcD has enjoyed a versatile career in domestic and international business, media, government and non-profits. She has worked in 26 states and 8 countries, winning awards for executive leadership, entrepreneurship and community service. Since 2014, Lynn has been VP of Knowledge Management for IEDC, the world’s largest and oldest organization for the economic development profession. She is also a board member of the Institute for Sustainable Development and a senior advisor to the national grassroots initiative, Jobenomics.

Lynn manages the IEDC team that provides economic recovery and resiliency assistance to disaster communities around the U.S. In 2015, the team developed a series of economic development “boot camp” courses in economic development, recovery and resiliency which have been presented to more than 1,000 community leaders in 18 states and Canada. Lynn serves as the program director for IEDC’s economic recovery and resiliency work in 10 U.S. states and territories that experienced natural and manmade disasters in 2016 through 2018. She is editor of the Leadership in Times of Crisis Toolkit, published on www.RestoreYourEconomy.org along with other highlights of the IEDC volunteer program in support of federally-declared disaster communities.

Prior to IEDC, for nearly 5 years, Lynn was Director of Economic Development Programs for Management Analysis, Inc., an international consulting firm where she served clients in 7 states and territories. For 5 years she was the elected chair of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands and in Y2000 she was the President & Board Chair of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. From 2001 to 2008, Lynn was Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Tan Holdings, the largest privately-held company in the Western Pacific. The Asia-Pacific firm operated businesses in 12 industries and was affiliated with Luen Thai Holdings, a global firm on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which operated companies in 17 countries. She concurrently served on the executive committee of Asia-Pacific Hotels and as VP/Publisher of a daily newspaper. Lynn was also involved in team management, strategic planning and marketing of the firm’s businesses in insurance, real estate, manufacturing, entertainment, software development, logistics, shipping, an airline, fishing, publishing and hospitality.

Early in her career, Lynn was Director of the Office of the Chairman of ComputerLand, a $1.4B franchisor based in California, with 880 stores in 26 countries. Upon the sale of the firm, she became a TV news anchorwoman and bureau chief for a local cable television company in the West Pacific, before opening Sunset Advertising Group, Inc., a firm which served leading clients in the region for 14 years. Lynn is the author or editor of more than 40 publications and a 50-minute TV documentary on a WWII battle in the Pacific.