Photo: Austin Business Journal

Brian Kelsey is an Austin-based economic development consultant and lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin.

As a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), Kelsey engineered the 2011 Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a $37 million initiative to break down the silos of federal programs and accelerate growth in regional economies. Highlighted by the Center for American Progress as “a compelling answer to the issue of unemployment,” the competitive grant program is expected to result in 4,800 new jobs, 4,000 trained workers, 300 new businesses, and $69 million in new private investment.

Prior to joining EDA, Kelsey served as Director of Community and Economic Development at the Capital Area Council of Governments in Austin, where his assistance to local governments and companies contributed to 700 new jobs and $478 million in new private investment. Kelsey has also worked in local economic development at the Sonoma County Economic Development Board in Santa Rosa, California.

Kelsey’s research background includes positions at the Council on Competitiveness, where he co-authored Measuring Regional Innovation, and at the Center for Transportation Research at The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied the economic impacts of transportation projects.

Kelsey earned a master’s degree in public affairs from The University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest distinction. Kelsey’s blog, Civic Analytics, has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Global Corporate Xpansion, and Economic Development Now.

For his work in promoting regional strategies for economic development, Kelsey was named a 2011 Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar and featured in a 2010 issue of the Austin Business Journal: Brian Kelsey, Founder, Civic Analytics.