Laith Wardi, CEcD, is President and founder of ExecutivePulse, Inc. He has worked in the economic development professional for over 21 years. Laith has comprehensive experience in business retention & expansion that includes one-toone outreach to hundreds of value-added client companies, work as a resource provider, and 15 years of regional program management in his home state of Pennsylvania. During his tenure in economic development, he also worked in business incubation and provided small business mentoring services to entrepreneurs.

Laith provides skills training, technology and management consultation to clients seeking to implement systematic and sustainable business retention and expansion programs. In 1994- 95, he pioneered the first web-based system for business retention. Today, The ExecutivePulse CRM System is an industry leading technology solution for all facets of economic development and the most widely used database for business retention & expansion in North America. ExecutivePulse is now being used in Australia as well as the United States and Canada. Laith has provided training on business retention and expansion for International Economic Development Council (IEDC) since 1996. He has trained over 5,000 persons for IEDC during that timeframe. In addition to IEDC, Laith provides BR&E online instruction for the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute (OUEDI). He has also presented to hundreds of economic development and allied audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Mexico on customer retention, one-to-one database marketing and technology assimilation.

Laith is a graduate of Mercyhurst University and received his economic development certification through IEDC in 2002. In addition to economic development, Laith has experience in real estate management, media sales, and as a strategic planning consultant for both public and private sector clients. He currently serves on a variety of local economic development boards and committees in Northwestern Pennsylvania.