Ms. Diane Lupke, CEcD, FM has more than thirty years of experience, currently as President of Diane Lupke & Associates, Inc., an economic development consulting firm, and previous experience in banking, government, and academia. Her work focuses on the identification of unique assets and opportunities on which a community can build, grow, and sustain itself over time and the financial and organizational structures to support them. She has provided technical assistance to more than one hundred cities, states, and non-profit organizations.

Ms. Lupke has special expertise in working with distressed communities and emerging markets, in particular, sub–economic regions and micro clusters. Ms. Lupke wrote tax and financial incentive legislation creating or modifying enterprise zones in seven States and provided technical assistance to eleven Federal Empowerment Zones. Ms. Lupke has also written legislation to create seed and venture capital funds and support angel investments.

The wide range of her practice includes work focused on:

• Strategic Planning and Organizational Capacity
• Competitive Asset Analysis
• Industrial Policy Design and Restructuring
• Talent Strategies
• Seed Capital, Financing, and Tax Legislation
• Rural Town and Region Regeneration

Prior to founding Diane Lupke & Associates in 1990, Ms. Lupke held management positions with Trustcorp Bank and the State of Indiana. Earlier, she was a Research Associate at Indiana University where she also served as an Adjunct Professor.

Ms. Lupke has been an active member of the International Economic Development Council for many years and received the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Economic Development in 2012. She previously served on its Board of Directors. She is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives, serves as the North American Editor for the journal Local Policy based in the United Kingdom, and co-authored the OECD publication Entrepreneurship: A Catalyst for Urban Regeneration.