David Ginn, President & CEO, Charleston Regional Development Alliance

August 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, David Ginn, President and CEO of Charleston Regional Development Alliance (CRDA), discussed the Charleston region’s evolution from crisis-driven collaboration to a globally competitive economy. Ginn highlighted the region’s shared strategy around innovation, quality growth, and regional alignment as they key foundation for Charleston’s success. Looking ahead, Ginn emphasized that the region’s future success will depend not simply on continued growth, but on advancing innovation across its core industries. “The question isn’t simply ‘What’s next?’ or ‘How do we do more?’. The future of Charleston is driving innovation throughout all of those sectors.”

What have been some of the key highlights for CRDA over the past fiscal year?

Throughout the fiscal year, our corporate scorecard has kept us focused on telling the story that the Charleston region is open for business. Our mission is to attract the world’s best companies, talent and entrepreneurs to the three-county Charleston region of South Carolina.

To achieve that, we establish annual goals, and I’m proud to say our team met those objectives. That success is made possible by the support of our investors and partners, and we continue to strengthen and grow those relationships.

One major milestone this year was the launch of our new website alongside a comprehensive brand refresh. While our mission remains the same, the new brand and digital presence ensure we are presenting the Charleston region in a way that is modern, targeted, and top of mind for site selectors, business leaders, and other key audiences around the world.

Internally, we’ve also continued rebuilding our team following the retirement of two senior executives a few years ago, and that effort is now nearly complete. 

Finally, we now have a five-year strategic roadmap developed in partnership with Ernst & Young (EY), providing a clear vision for the future. Combined with the support of our investors, regional leaders, and talented team, we believe the Charleston region has a compelling story to tell and is well positioned for continued success.

Why is the new five-year strategy placing greater emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship alongside traditional business recruitment?

The Charleston region’s economic development strategy has evolved significantly over the past three decades. 

In 1993, the closure of the Charleston Naval Base and Naval Shipyard affected more than 22,000 jobs. Even though it was a high-performing naval shipyard and naval operation, the military was downsizing. That unprecedented challenge brought the public and private sectors together with a shared purpose: rebuilding the regional economy. 

For the first five years, the focus was simply on recovering from the crisis by creating more jobs. The next phase emphasized better jobs, followed by targeted industries, and then the development of high-impact industry clusters. Over the past 30 years, we’ve moved from being motivated by fear to being motivated by the desire to elevate our market’s global competitiveness. 

Today, we’ve proven as a community that we can win in aerospace, automotive, life sciences, defense, information technology, and tourism, welcoming nearly 8 million visitors annually in a market that is not quite a million people.

Over the past several years, that success has led to a new question: What comes next? The answer is not simply more growth, it is driving innovation across each of those industries. The future of Charleston lies in deepening the quality, competitiveness, and innovation within its key sectors, ensuring the region continues to grow in a way that creates long-term value and with quality. 

What differentiates Charleston from other fast-growing markets competing globally for investment?

It depends on the industry. We don’t view Charleston as competing with a one-size-fits-all approach.Instead, we begin by understanding each company’s unique needs, what they do, how they plan to grow, the workforce they require, the industries and partners they need to be near, and the assets that will help them succeed.

From there, we demonstrate how the Charleston region’s sites, buildings, workforce, infrastructure, and business ecosystem across Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties meet or exceed those requirements. Our goal is to show companies that the region is not only a great place to visit, but an exceptional place to do business.

Charleston’s competitive advantage is the combination of its business assets and quality of place. With a deepwater port, global connectivity, a diverse and growing economy, and strengths across multiple industry sectors, the region offers companies the resources they need to succeed. At the same time, its coastal location, historic character, natural beauty, and vibrant communities make it an attractive place to recruit and retain talent.

That combination allows us  compete successfully for investment across a wide range of industries.

How does Charleston’s quality of life factor into economic development decisions today?

Charleston’s quality of life has become a competitive advantage, helping the region attract businesses, talent, and investment. But today, the focus is not simply on growing—it is on building upon the industries that have already established a strong presence here.

Now that we have proven we can compete globally in industries such as aerospace, automotive, and life sciences—with companies like Boeing, Volvo Cars, and Mercedes-Benz Vans—the emphasis has shifted to deepening those target industries rather than simply expanding them.

The same philosophy applies to tourism. Our tourism partners have been incredibly successful, and the goal today is not necessarily to bring in more visitors, but to encourage them to stay longer and experience more of what the region has to offer.

Likewise, in industries such as automotive and aerospace, we are focused on strengthening the ecosystem by attracting more suppliers, expanding research and development, and bringing additional corporate offices to the region. That creates higher-paying jobs, drives innovation, strengthens our talent base, and makes Charleston even more globally competitive.

How have partnerships among counties, municipalities and other regional leaders strengthened Charleston’s competitiveness?

It all goes back to 1993. Before the closure of the Charleston Naval Base and Naval Shipyard, economic development in the region was largely centered on securing defense contracts, and counties, municipalities, business leaders, and academic institutions were not working together in the way they do today. The crisis changed that.In response, counties, chambers of commerce, municipalities, business leaders, and academic institutions came together with a shared purpose. Over time, those relationships evolved from a crisis response into lasting regional partnerships.

While our region includes three counties and 27 municipalities, it truly functions as one market. By federal designation, the Charleston region is a single metropolitan area with a population of approximately 890,000 people. Residents regularly live in one county, work in another, and travel throughout the region, reinforcing the idea that we succeed as one regional economy.

That regional mindset extends beyond our local partnerships. When I travel internationally, I begin by placing Charleston within the context of the United States, then South Carolina, and finally our mid-sized coastal market. It helps illustrate that, despite having fewer than one million residents, the Charleston region competes successfully on a global stage.

Just as important are our partnerships with the state. South Carolina’s support for incentives, workforce development, permitting, and economic development leadership strengthens our ability to compete for investment. By working together at the local, regional, and state levels, we create a more competitive environment for businesses considering the Charleston region.

What are your priorities for the next two to three years?

We were just discussing this during our planning meetings this morning. Our regional economic development strategy, which is centered on innovation, is only about a year old. I posed the question: How long will it take before external audiences perceive Charleston as an innovative place to live, work, and do business—not simply because we say it is, but because they genuinely experience it?

Today, when people visit Charleston, they naturally talk about its beauty, history, vibrancy, hotels, restaurants, and tourism attractions. Those qualities are an important part of who we are and will always be among our greatest strengths.

Looking ahead, I hope that five years from now, when I bring someone to Charleston, they’ll still say, “Wow, it’s a naturally beautiful, historic, vibrant place.” But I also hope they’ll add, “It seems to be a really innovative place.”

To me, that would mean we’ve achieved our vision. We’ve put many of the foundational pieces in place—including our new website, refreshed brand, and long-term strategy. Now it’s our responsibility to consistently tell that story and demonstrate, through our actions and results, that innovation is becoming synonymous with the Charleston region.