KANSAS CITY, Mo. – February 7, 2024 – Today, the Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC), which serves as the region’s sales and marketing team to attract business and talent into the two-state, 18-county area, announced Samantha (Pinkal) Jefferson as its vice president of corporate attraction - emerging sectors.
Samantha joins the KCADC team from Phoenix, Arizona, where she was vice president of business development at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. With more than 15 years of experience in economic development and large-scale commercial projects, Samantha specializes in working with companies and communities to navigate the business location process.
“The KCADC team is a collective of high-achieving leaders, and we strive for excellence while providing the highest level of customer service to our clients and partners,” said Tim Cowden, president and CEO at KCADC. “Samantha’s diverse skill set and reputation in economic development make her a perfect fit to lead this new area of focus for our organization’s business attraction strategy.”
Samantha’s role is a new position within KCADC’s corporate attraction team, focusing on the market’s business and workforce strengths to support emerging sectors that will further diversify KC’s regional economy.
“The Kansas City region’s tremendous legacy, competitive business strengths and recognition on a global stage made this an incredibly unique and compelling opportunity,” said Samantha (Pinkal) Jefferson. “KCADC is recognized as being one of the best in economic development, and I’m looking forward to joining the team to showcase the region’s industry strengths including digital health that have significant growth potential.”
Samantha will work closely with KCADC’s many business, civic and community partners across the region, including the team at Digital Health KC, to position the market as a top location for health tech.
The KC region is at the center of health care and data, with 25,000 experienced professionals working in digital health and more than 100,000 employed in the region’s tech sector. Firms throughout the area are continuously innovating in the areas of virtual care, health data management and visualization, health care analytics and more.
KCADC is consistently named one of the top regional economic development groups in the U.S., and working closely with its state, county and community partners has attracted more than 64,000 new jobs over its 45-year history. KCADC also leads the efforts behind the KC Animal Health Corridor, KC SmartPort, TeamKC, KC Global Design and KC Heartland. Learn more at thinkKC.com.