Contact Staff
Dr. Bridget Jones - Executive Director
Dr. Bridget Jones is Executive Director of Cumberland Region Tomorrow, a non-profit citizen-based organization dedicated to planning for the future livability and economic vitality of a 10-county region in Middle Tennessee. An economic and community development and higher education professional, she has lead major regional and community-level programs and projects in the Middle Tennessee area. Bridget's work has focused on effective use of collaborative effort and vision along with proactive project management strategies toward complex solutions to community and economic development problems.
Prior to joining Cumberland Region Tomorrow in mid-2003, she worked with the South Central Tennessee Development District, Columbia Main Street Corporation and Columbia State Community College in various executive and project leadership positions.
Bridget is a native of Middle Tennessee. She holds degrees from the following universities: Memphis State University (B.B.A. in Marketing/Transportation Logistics), Vanderbilt University (M.Ed. in Human Resource Development) and the University of Louisville (Ed.D in Educational Administration).
Dr. Jones has completed numerous publications and presentations relating to her career experience and interests including the Cumberland Region Tomorrow Report to the Region...Continuing the Discussion (2003) and the Quality Growth Toolbox (2006). She received the first William McCulley Award for Excellence in Research in 2001 from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission for her dissertation research entitled The Role of Tennessee Community Colleges in Economic Development.
Dr. Jones is Past-Chair of Columbia Main Street Corporation, a founding member and board member of Maury Vision 20-20, and a graduate of Leadership Maury and the Leadership Middle Tennessee Class of 2005 and serves on the Natchez Trace Parkway Association Board. She is an active member of the Smart Growth America Coalition and was named to the Board of Directors of Smart Growth America in March of 2008. Dr. Jones was also appointed in February of 2005 by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to the Southern Growth Policy Board - Global Strategies Council where she will represent Tennessee on rural economic and community development issues and opportunities.
Contact Information:
Dr. Bridget Jones
Cumberland Region Tomorrow
Dave Keiser is an economic development professional with ten years of combined experience in the United States and North Africa. He has presented new ideas and innovative concepts to a diverse spectrum of audiences. Keiser demonstrates proven leadership in garnering support and mobilizing resources for projects that balance economic, environmental and social interests. With a background in community development, economics, teaching, philosophy, biology, and farming, Keiser is also fluent in Moroccan Arabic. His interests include renewable energy, smart growth, the planning process, regional cluster economics, value-added agriculture, logistics, entrepreneurship, supply-chain management, world politics, and the global economy.
Keiser was recently appointed by Governor Bredesen to the Board of Directors of Volunteer Tennessee, an advisory board for AmeriCorps and service learning programs across the State of Tennessee. He is a member of the Nashville Area MPO’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) and School Siting Advisory Committee as Cumberland Region Tomorrow’s representative. He is Vice President of the grassroots advocacy group, Transit Now, an organization that is advocating for improved transit options in Nashville and has been part of the Nashville MTA’s planning process for the upcoming downtown Music City Circuit. Keiser also serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee.
When he's not participating on committee meetings, he is the President of the Tennessee Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, a non-profit organization that raises money to support currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers from Tennessee.
Prior to starting at Cumberland Region Tomorrow in the summer of 2007, Dave led the citizens of Carroll County, Illinois in the creation of the Carroll County Economic Development Corporation, and he subsequently was hired as their first executive director. During his term at the CCEDC, Keiser led the recruitment of one large manufacturer to the area while incorporating a local TIF district to maximize the development. Additionally, he directed the regional Entrepreneurs & Inventors Club, served on the Northwest Region Entrepreneurship Center's Advisory Board, administered the local Business Retention & Expansion Program and recruited a large wind farm developer to the county. He is also a member of the International Economic Development Council.
Keiser holds degrees from the following institutions: M.A. Economics as a Peace Corps Fellow at Western Illinois University with an emphasis on community development through the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, B.A. Biology from Hastings College in Nebraska, and also his Basic Economic Development Certificate (BEDC) from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He is currently in his second year at the Economic Development Institute of the University of Oklahoma.
Keiser is a native farm boy from Ashland, Nebraska, but has lived in Colorado, Seattle, Illinois and Morocco! He currently resides in Madison, TN, with his wife Sarah and dog, Chewbacca. On the weekends, he can often be found on the numerous disc golf courses in Middle Tennessee.
Contact Information:
Dave Keiser
Cumberland Region Tomorrow
511 Union St., Suite 1600
Nashville, TN 37219
O 615.986.2698
F 615.668.2697
E davek@cumberlandregiontomorrow.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/crtomorrow
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/pub/5/741/aa2
Sarah McKibben - Intern, Vanderbilt University, Public Policy & Economic Development Undergrad
Sarah McKibben is a senior studying public policy and economic development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. During the spring semester, Sarah will be researching and writing her senior policy thesis, which will examine best practices in foreign aid policy and apply them to evaluate a USAID-sponsored environmental education program in Egypt. She is currently an intern at Cumberland Region Tomorrow, with personal and academic interests in community development, smart growth, open space preservation, environmental management policy and international development issues. After graduation, Sarah plans to pursue a Masters of Public Administration at the University of Washington with the Peace Corp Masters International program, through which she will serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in community development while completing her degree.
During her college career, Sarah has served as president of Leaders Engaged in an Active Democracy (LEAD), a campus collaborative dedicated to promoting civic awareness and student engagement with the Nashville community. As a sophomore, she helped found the Vanderbilt Election Alliance, which brought together a diversity of campus advocacy groups to educate students and the surrounding community about vital issues relevant to the 2008 presidential election. Sarah studied abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand last spring, and she has since turned her focus to sustainable economic development.
Sarah is a lifelong hiker and a dabbling guitar player. She is an active member of the Vanderbilt Sierra Club and also serves as the Community Service Chair for her campus Methodist fellowship, Wesley/Canterbury.
Contact Information:
Sarah McKibben
Cumberland Region Tomorrow
511 Union St., Suite 1600
Nashville, TN 37219
O 615.986.2698
F 615.986.2697
E sarah@cumberlandregiontomorrow.org