Tracy Dodson, Chief Operating Officer & Head of Economic Development, Charlotte Regional Business Alliance

In an interview with Invest:, Tracy Dodson, chief operating officer and head of economic development for the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, discussed driving Charlotte’s growth, competitive position, and meeting future workforce needs. “Bottom line, I want to make sure we’re pursuing smart, sustainable growth, the kind that complements the companies and talent we already have, while continuing to build on the industries we’ve established,” Dodson said.

What do you see as the biggest drivers of Charlotte’s growth, and what challenges will the region need to address to keep that momentum going?

The drivers are easy: opportunity, affordability, and a great quality of life. Charlotte’s growth is the product of decades of intentional investment in our community. It’s not accidental, whether that’s investment in infrastructure and our airport, arts and sports, or world-class amenities. With a central location on the East Coast and weather that’s unbeatable, the Charlotte region is poised as a destination for people and companies. Through the years, the business community has stayed collaborative and played a major role in our region’s growth. We’re seeing financial services continue to diversify and deepen, manufacturing and logistics operators drawn to our position along major freight corridors, and the life sciences industry really coming to life. We are fortunate to continue to see people move to our region, with 135 new residents each day.

In order to keep the quality of life while we continue to grow, we will need to monitor and continue to invest in things like our infrastructure, housing supply, and water and power capacity. Growth at this pace can put real pressure on the systems that got us here, and the region has to keep investing ahead of the curve, not behind it.

What makes the Charlotte region stand out from other fast-growing markets, and how has its competitive position changed in recent years?

What sets us apart today is that we’re no longer positioning ourselves as an alternative to established markets or even simply markets in the Southeast. 

We used to compete with the Nashvilles and Austins, but we are now going up against markets like Dallas and Atlanta. I think at some point soon, we will begin to compete with even larger metros, like Boston and San Diego, for life sciences projects specifically.

We’re winning because we’ve built a region where people want to live and work. Strategic investments in quality of life, paired with a cost of living that remains below most of our peer markets, give us a real and lasting competitive edge. Things like affordability, transportation mobility, and access are reasons people continue to choose the Charlotte region. 

That shift shows up in what companies are actually evaluating us on. It’s the quality and depth of our workforce, site readiness, speed to market and integration, and regulatory environment that actually works with businesses instead of against them. Where we’ve changed most is depth. We used to win projects on cost. Now we’re winning them on capability, in financial services, energy, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing. 

What trends, including advanced manufacturing, supply chain shifts, and artificial intelligence, are creating the biggest opportunities for the Charlotte region?

Advanced manufacturing is probably the most underappreciated story in our region right now. I think it’s going to become one of the most compelling industry transformations of the next decade. Our recent life science study confirmed what a lot of people don’t realize: this isn’t an emerging sector for us; it’s an established one. We’re home to 160 life sciences companies employing more than 12,000 workers. The legacy textile manufacturing can translate well into medical supply manufacturing; think of medical textiles, like masks, gauze, etc. Medtech has established a sub-sector within the life science industry, and already, standout players at The Pearl are propelling it forward.

I also think automotive will continue to thrive here, built on our history of motorsports, now morphing into defense applications and vehicles and even a hub for potential automotive HQ offices. Scout Motors is a great example; their manufacturing facility is down the road in South Carolina, but they chose to place their headquarters here in Charlotte specifically to attract the talent they need.

On the AI front, we’re watching it cut two ways: it’s a driver of data centers and energy infrastructure investment directly, and it’s also reshaping the kind of workforce companies will need in the future. Figuring out how to reskill our current workforce to meet that demand is something we’ll keep working on closely with our education partners. 

How would you describe the region’s workforce strengths, and what steps are needed to meet future workforce needs?

Our strength has always been our ability to pull from a regional talent pool, 16 counties across two states feeding into a labor market that’s deeply skilled in financial services, tech, and manufacturing. Because of our centralized location, we pull recent graduates from up and down the East Coast, supplying our talent pipeline. 

What we need to keep building is the pipeline underneath that, a stronger alignment between our community colleges and universities and the specific skills employers are hiring for, particularly in advanced manufacturing, technical trades, and increasingly in life sciences as well. We know we have the people moving here, and that’s a real advantage, but we also have to grow the labor pool from within. That means sustained investment in training our current workforce, so it can meet the demands of the jobs coming into the market and evolve alongside them. We also work in collaboration with our educational partners to grow apprenticeships to funnel new talent into the advanced manufacturing space. 

Since joining the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, what have become your top priorities, and where do you believe the organization can make the biggest impact?

My focus has been on making sure the Alliance operates as one regional voice, while still recognizing that each community within our footprint has its own distinct assets, needs, and challenges. One thing we do exceptionally well as a region is serve as the connective tissue between the public and private sector on the decisions that matter most.

We’re positioned to tell that regional story to site selectors and decision-makers in a way no single entity can on its own. We’re also approaching economic development differently, looking closely at market alignment, the relationships we already have with companies in the region, and identifying talent who may already be here working for companies based elsewhere.

We’re sharpening how we tell the region’s story, deepening our investor and member relationships so the business community feels genuine ownership of this work, and making sure our economic development strategy keeps pace with where the real opportunities are. We don’t take the one-size-fits-all approach to prospective companies; we tailor how we approach them based on their needs and goals. When companies visit our market as a potential relocation option, we want to ensure they have an experience that elevates our assets based on the things they deem important for their executives and employees. We are listening to their needs and making the visit one they won’t forget. 

What would success look like for the Charlotte region by the end of the decade, and what opportunities should business leaders and investors be watching most closely?

Success looks like a region that has added jobs and kept pace with growth rather than trailing behind it. We’d love to see that our region has grown by more than 300,000 jobs. That demonstrates healthy growth in new companies to market but also growth of our existing companies. I’d want to see us recognized not just as a great place to relocate a business, but as a place where a company can scale for the long term. 

Bottom line, I want to make sure we’re pursuing smart, sustainable growth, the kind that complements the companies and talent we already have, while continuing to build on the industries we’ve established. We also need to remain a region with an exceptional quality of life to ensure we continue to attract companies and people.