Pittman and Friends Podcast
Welcome to Pittman and Friends, the curiously probing, sometimes awkward, but always revealing conversations between your host, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman - that’s me - and whatever brave and willing public servant, community leader, or elected official I can find who has something to say that you should hear.
This podcast is provided as a public service of Anne Arundel County Government, so don’t expect me to get all partisan here. This is about the age-old art of government - of, by, and for the people.
Pittman and Friends Podcast
Amy Gowan on Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation
County Executive Steuart Pittman welcomes Amy Gowan, President and CEO of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation (AAEDC), for a fascinating exploration of what drives economic prosperity in communities and how local government can facilitate business success.
Amy brings a uniquely diverse background to her role, having worked in homeless services, housing policy, planning departments, and as an advisor to both a mayor and city council member before landing in economic development. This nonlinear career path gives her invaluable perspective on both sides of the development equation – understanding regulatory constraints while championing business growth.
The conversation reveals how AAEDC's structure as a nonprofit with close county ties creates remarkable flexibility to respond to business needs quickly. Whether deploying emergency grants during disasters or helping entrepreneurs navigate permitting processes, the organization serves as the crucial bridge between government and the business community.
Listeners will discover the Inclusive Venture Program, an eight-week business accelerator helping established small businesses scale to new heights. The program's graduation ceremonies often bring tears as passionate entrepreneurs who've risked everything gain the knowledge, connections, and confidence to succeed. Amy emphasizes how understanding cash flow projections becomes a transformative skill for participants.
The podcast also examines Anne Arundel County's exceptional economic strengths – from Fort Meade's cyber security hub to tourism assets and global transportation connections through BWI Airport. These economic engines create stability that attracts investment, maintains strong bond ratings, and fosters an environment where businesses can make long-term plans with confidence.
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Welcome to Pittman and Friends. The curiously probing, sometimes awkward but always revealing conversations between your host, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman - that's me - and whatever brave and willing public servant, community leader, or elected official I can find who has something to say that you should hear. This podcast is provided as a public service of Anne Arundel County, so don't expect me to get all partisan here. This is about the age-old art of government of, by, and for the people. I am here today with my friend Amy Gowan, who is the president and the CEO of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation. Welcome.
Amy Gowan:Thank you, great to be here.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:I did get that right, didn't I?
Amy Gowan:You did. Of course, yes.
Amy Gowan:Of course you got it right.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Al right, al right, al right. Let's start with economic development.
Amy Gowan:So it could be a lot of things, right. And I think in the most broadest sense, it is policies, programs and activities that seek to improve the economic vitality, the economic well-being of a community, and the quality of life, right. And so when we think in traditional terms about economic development, a lot of times it's about the jobs, employment, increasing the tax base through jobs. But it can also be about more than that right, and there is this other quality of life piece. Because in order to be able to grow our economy, we need to have all of the amenities that make people want to move there and live there for jobs right, and want to attract employers to our area so that we can take advantage of the revenue that is generated from our employment base.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So. So, I guess part of the reason that a government is even doing it is because it does generate the tax base, which makes it possible for government to be funded right exactly.
Amy Gowan:It's extremely important, as you know, for when you're doing budgeting as we're going through the budget right now at the county level. I'm sure you're looking at the income tax revenues and the commercial property tax revenues and how that factors in.
Amy Gowan:So traditionally, economic developers are focused on business attraction, retention, and expansion. What they call BREA and expansion what they call BREA, and that is, you know, helping our existing businesses to sustain in the county and then helping them to grow in the county. Making sure they stay in the county and then bringing in industries that are going to help to, you know, that are going to help to improve our supply chain and are going to help to then, you know, bolster our overall economy. So that's kind of traditionally how it's been looked at. But I think more and more economic development organizations are looking at those aspects like housing and transportation and child care that are kind of they are like products of, or they are related to, economic development and they factor into economic development, they have implications for economic development. Maybe it's not our primary focus, but we definitely are involved in those discussions and needing to be at the table for those discussions more and more.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Okay, so let's jump into. We were going to talk about Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation and how it's unique and what its role is next. But I want to jump ahead and first talk about you and then talk about that, because we've talked about economic development in a very broad way and your background is very broad in terms of the work that you've done. So tell us how you got where you are.
Amy Gowan:Yeah, so probably a very unique and nonlinear career trajectory. So if I go way back, I started right out of college working. Well, first of all, I moved to San Diego.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:From where?
Amy Gowan:From Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:That's where you started out, okay.
Amy Gowan:Yeah, I was outside of Philadelphia, born and raised. Go Birds. Super Bowl champs, sorry, yeah, yeah. So I moved to San Diego.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:I was there. Once the Ravens lost, I was there.
Amy Gowan:Had to put the plug in. Wanted to save the world, and so I started working in homeless shelters. I was managing homeless shelters. I started a program for domestic violence victims and their families. It was transitional housing, and so it was really intense work and from there I segued into a kind of like a self-sufficiency role with the San Diego Housing Commission. So the housing authority and I realized at that time that I was more interested in macro level work than the kind of micro level, client-centered work I had been doing, and so I was able to.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So you wanted to change the world, but it wasn't happening quickly enough. So you expanded your horizons.
Amy Gowan:I almost think it's like the opposite when you go the macro level, it takes a long time, right.
Amy Gowan:But no, maybe it's that I wanted to help thousands of people and not just one person at a time. I don't know, I was in my 20s, but that was what I decided at that time. So I got an opportunity with the Housing Commission to be a policy analyst, and that's what really started my career in this kind of policy, land use policy, realm. So I was doing the action plan, the housing action plan for San Diego, and then I got involved in their general plan, their comprehensive development plan update. Through that, got exposed to all facets of land use planning. And I was in grad school at the time, and I was getting my master's degree in public administration and doing some concentration in urban planning. And one of my mentors, who was a teacher, said if you ever have a chance to work for an elected official, take it. And that was his advice to the whole class. And so, sure enough, I got an opportunity, came up to be a land use advisor for a county council. Sorry, city council member. And so of course, I heeded his advice as a mentor of mine and I took it, and so that was my first stint working for an elected official, who actually is now the Senate pro tem for the state of California. So she's gone really far. Right, and that was quite a privilege to have worked for her for a time. So I did that. She termed out.
Amy Gowan:I worked in the planning department for a little while, and then one day I get a call from the mayor's office. And actually my director at the time came to me and said the mayor's office would like you to go help them out for like five months while somebody's on leave.
Amy Gowan:And my first thought was, or actually the first thing I said was the mayor knows who I am. And so I guess I was the only city employee that worked for an elected official. So, sure enough, I started working for the mayor of San Diego and it ended up being a great fit. And I stayed and got promoted and I was heading up. I was director of legislative affairs, so I was in charge of everything going to the city council, which was a full-time city council that's a big job. Yeah, and had to speak on behalf of the mayor and learned about how to govern a city, a large city of, I think, they were like 1.3 million at the time. And then stayed with him to the end of his term and then went into economic development in San Diego, and I was probably like the number two in the city's economic development division, and then moved to Maryland for my husband's job. And then after that, I started out in Maryland doing planning and zoning with Howard County, where I was the deputy and then the director. And now here I am.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, and I knew that story. Some of the details I didn't have. But when we interviewed you and I looked at your resume, I found all those things and I was immediately inspired by it because of the breadth of it. And I thought it would be fantastic to have a director or CEO of our economic development agency that not only had been a director of planning in a nearby county, so you knew the regulatory side of economic development. You knew all the obstacles and how they worked and why they worked, but also that background working in politics, working you know all the way back to your housing work. So I was really thrilled that you applied and that you took the job and that when we talk we can talk the same language, come from some of the same backgrounds, but it's exciting. So welcome to Anne Arundel County. How long has it been?
Amy Gowan:It's been just about two years.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Two years, it's been that long.
Amy Gowan:Yeah, I know yeah. I feel like.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So tell us about this agency. I know Anne Arundel County's economic development is a little different than most and I know some of the background of how that happened. You may have heard a different story than I did, but tell us how you're structured.
Amy Gowan:So, I like to say we're a privatized function of county government. And some people say we're quasi-governmental. But we're you know, we are a 501c3. But we're you know, we are a 501c3, but at the same time our board of directors is selected by county executive's office.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Not the whole board, that's right. The majority of the board.
Amy Gowan:The majority of the board. We are almost entirely funded by the county. A very large portion of our budget is attributed to the county's grant that we get every year, and then, obviously, my position is appointed by the county executive. So we're very closely tied to the county we work, so you know.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And I'll tell you how that happened, because a guy named Bobby Neal sat on my porch and explained it to me over a couple of hours a few years back. He was the county executive at the time. There was a budget crisis, and he started spinning off county agencies and turning them into these some of them we called quasi-nonprofit nonprofit organizations. And it turns out to have been a really good move. Our housing agency, ACDS, has done that way. You're done that way. We have Partnership for Children, Youth and Families, which is a little bit different because it has a state component to it. I talked about doing that with Animal Care and Control and then was told no, it's actually better to keep it a county agency. So we're. But I love the fact that you are nimble, you are quick, you don't have to deal with all of the government regulations that every agency does, and it makes you a little bit more of a fellow traveler with the businesses you work with.
Amy Gowan:Exactly, and I think that those are essential ingredients when you're dealing with businesses. Right, they need expediency, yep. And I think it does help that we're arm's length, so we can help that. It's great because, you know, we have the close connection with the county and the relationships with the county.
Amy Gowan:So when they're having permitting issues or where they just need help navigating, you know, county processes, we can help them with that. Right, but at the same time, when we need to get out grant funding because of a flood in a matter of you know hours and days.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Or a pandemic.
Amy Gowan:Yeah, exactly, we're able to do that.
Amy Gowan:So we're able to. You know, like you said, where you know we have the flexibility, we can act much more nimbly because we're kind of just going through our own processes and we don't have the breadth of regulation that the county would have. I think it's a very efficient and effective way to operate, specifically economic development within a jurisdiction.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yep, yep. So tell us about some of the functions, some of the programs, some of the things that you do out of your office.
Amy Gowan:Right. So, we like to say that we are the go-to resource for businesses in our county, right? If we don't have a program or the ability to assist them, we have this vast network throughout the county and actually throughout the region, where we can then connect businesses to the resources that they need. So we are there in terms of helping businesses at any stage. So, whether they're starting up, whether they're, you know, scaling up, we have our IVP program for that stage, which I can talk about.
Amy Gowan:Inclusive Venture Program yeah, and I can talk a little bit about that too or whether they're well-established. We have both resources in terms of consulting or like consultation help that we can provide. We are a lender, so we're a commercial lender, so we can provide access to capital for businesses, specifically those that might not be able to access capital from a traditional commercial lender. That's where an economic development organization comes in.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Including state money. The Volt program. Right.
Amy Gowan:Through the Volt program, primarily. And then, you know, we do market studies, we put out economic indicator reports, so we like to fashion ourselves as a thought leader on economic development. The economy and economic indicators and, you know, having our finger on the pulse of all of that. And of course, as I mentioned, we'll provide regulatory assistance with permitting, with processes, you know, and if we're not doing it in-house, my business development team is out. I mean, they spend so much of their time either meeting with businesses talking about what their needs might be, or networking within the ecosystem and making sure that we have a good idea of what the resources out there are so that we can always make a soft handoff. We're always going to connect a business with a person and do that handoff.
Amy Gowan:We're never going to just give a number or a name and say, you know, go figure it out.
Amy Gowan:So, that's a big piece is. That connection is invaluable, I think, in terms of even the value that we provide, and sometimes we might meet with a business now and then they might not need us for like a year. But you know, knowing that you kind of have this agency that has your back, that if you run into an obstacle give us a call. I mean, it really becomes a nice support system for our local business community, especially the smaller businesses.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And they love you. They do I mean. I've seen it, I've felt it when we go around and do business visits. I've seen it. I know you have your staff organized somewhat by parts of industry that your board has felt that are very important. You've got your ag economic development person and you've got your. Well, you've got a separate committee of the maritime industry in Anne Arundel County. I know you've got cyber that you've focused on as well. How does that work, and am I missing any?
Amy Gowan:Yeah, so we have five well, technically four different business development directors or specialists in certain sectors. So their jobs are really to kind of like I talked about. They need to be knowledgeable about the needs of that sector and also connect with all the resources that might be available in that sector. So they're going to events and trade shows. They're going to events and trade shows, um, so we have, you know, one person that focuses on hospitality and tourism and then manufacturing and healthcare, and then someone that works on cyber defense technology uh, might be mixing people up, um and then we have some, um, one person that does ag and maritime cause those are very unique industries and have very specific needs.
Amy Gowan:And then we have someone that is our liaison to our you know, kind of small women minority owned businesses and that's a person that runs our inclusive venture program and also handles a lot of the retail restaurant, small business stuff.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Let's talk about that IVP program. You know we started it about five years ago, I don't know. I was in office early on.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Okay, yep, yep, four years ago and I was really excited about having been in business myself. I used to have a dream I was in the horse industry and I was president of the Maryland Horse Council at one point and we created our business assistance group within it. We created our business assistance group within it Equine Businesses and I really always wished I had more time to go around and help businesses with their business plans and help them grow. Not that I was all that great at it, but you know, I just felt like everybody needed help and people in that industry are not very good business people. They do it for a passion. It's true of a lot of industries. So this program well, why don't? Why don't you tell me, tell me how it works? Um, I'm just really uh, I love it. I love going to the graduations every year.
Amy Gowan:I'll just start with that. It's a special program, um, and it's been wildly successful. So the inclusive venture program, or IVP for short, is a business accelerator program, and it's really geared for businesses that have been in business for about two years or more and they're ready to scale. So they're kind of hitting that inflection point where they probably need to raise more capital, they might need to hire some more staff, they may need to find a storefront, but they're ready for that next step. And so we are always looking for businesses that are in that right kind of in that right growth stage, stage of growth. And it's an eight-week program and we partner with Will Holmes Consulting, who's a small business consultant who has a phenomenal curriculum, and they go through as a cohort.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And it's a lot of fun. I would say.
Amy Gowan:He's great, he has a phenomenal curriculum and they go through as a cohort. And it's a lot of fun.
Amy Gowan:I will say he's great. He's a great partner.
Amy Gowan:They go through a cohort and so it's.
Amy Gowan:You know, these classes that are every week for eight weeks. And at the end, they get a little seed grant for going through the program and they get access not only to the curriculum of the program but mentors for accounting and HR and tax assistance and things that they really need to understand to be able to get to that next stage and, like you said, the graduations.
Amy Gowan:There are not dry eyes in the room. I mean, when you talk about and you said it. I mean, people get into starting small businesses because they're passionate, and so these are people that and people regular people like you and I. Right, that had a passion, and they took a huge risk, and in a lot of cases, they may have used their life savings to take this risk. You know they may have quit a very stable full-time job to take this risk. They have a lot on the line, a lot it's. So it's very emotional when they get through the program because they feel this just sense of kind of relief and support and knowledge and they're connected now, yeah, and they have the power of that knowledge.
Amy Gowan:Exactly, and the other thing that's great about IVP and I know you had Kris Shock on here a week ago.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Leadership Anne Arundel.
Amy Gowan:Yeah, so Leadership Anne Arundel.
Amy Gowan:We kind of modeled it after that in terms of having a cohort that goes through an experience together, right, and there's that fellowship that you gain from that. And they go through this together. They're all kind of sharing similar feelings and challenges and they get to know each other, and so what we try to do is keep those relationships current and active. So we do gatherings for our graduates, we'll do happy hours, we do a social. You've been to some of those and spoken, and not only does it really provide that support, but you know everything is relationship building. You know you build your success with the relationships that you have. And so you know, not only are those relationships that help them as business owners. But they also can, you know, they can help one another out and provide services to one another. And if I need a caterer, I have a whole list of IBP graduates I can go to, and then they can do that within their own kind of ecosystem.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, yeah. Well, it's been a joy getting to go to the graduations and the part for me that is so meaningful. I remember what it feels like to be in business and think you're making money and then realize that you didn't budget correctly. You didn't realize you had certain expenses coming and all of a sudden you're losing money and it's scary. It really is to be in business and I wish that I had had some training that I didn't have when I went in.
Amy Gowan:And that is exactly like hitting the nail on the head that when we go around at the end of the graduation, we ask what's, what is your biggest takeaway? And hands down it's the cash flow projections. They go deep into their financial portfolio and they look at what their revenue targets need to be to get where they need to go and whether they need an injection of cash to be able to hire more staff to get there. But they all go away understanding their numbers at a level that they did not prior to that course.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And I will just say that as an elected official, a county leader. I think it's true of legislators as well, whether they're council level or state level, county level or state that if we had all gone through something like that, or if we went through that program to learn how businesses are run. And then, even more maybe, if we had gone through the exercise of applying for permits. I mean, I think, for businesses, your interaction, government, your biggest, biggest one is when you're trying to get permits to do things and nobody knows that process when they go in. And thank, thank goodness that economic development is there to help to guide them.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:I wish we had more ability to even do that and I think it's very important that our agencies listen to our economic development team. But but I went to Fire Ops 101, where we all pretended to be firefighters for a day and they dressed us up. It was all candidates for office and what a great thing to learn what it is to go into a burning house as a firefighter when you're about to do their budget or do legislation related to them.
Amy Gowan:I've done that.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, you did the Fire Ops 101.
Amy Gowan:I did it when I worked for the mayor in San Diego.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Oh, really, okay. So it would be great. It was really intense. Wouldn't it be great if the politicians had to apply for a building permit or a permit to open a restaurant and go through step by step?
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Maybe they'd have some pretty good ideas about how to streamline things rather than just keep adding on more and more wonderful ideas about how to regulate them. But I digress. I'll stop there and let's look big picture. You and I were both last week in presentations to three bond rating agencies and a big part of the presentation was your presentation on the economic drivers in Anne Arundel County. What makes this county a good investment? Part of it is that we have economic drivers, so what are they and what are you doing? Have economic drivers, so what are they and what are you doing to nurture them?
Amy Gowan:But what are they? Yeah, and it's where economic drivers are, the economic engines of our county. It's what gives us a competitive advantage, and it's the things that I'm using on a regular basis to sell our county to potential companies to attract them here, other investors, to our bond rating agencies to talk about.
Amy Gowan:You know the thriving economy that we do have. But you know we, we, you know we have a lot going for us, and I think, and I think you know, first and foremost, when I, at least when I'm talking to, uh, potential investors or potential businesses. It's we, it's, it's the tourism, um, within the, you know, both of the County and the city of Annapolis, but it's the cultural heritage, um, it's the water, it's the community around the water. I mean, when you talk about location, we have a lot of amenities based on our location, with our coastal amenities, with the history within the city of Annapolis. And then we also, from a tourism perspective, we have the huge entertainment district over at Arundel Mills and Maryland Live. So we have 11 hotels. We have a casino.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Maryland Hall at Maryland Live, where we have some badass shows, I've got to say. And we have Maryland Hall too, right.
Amy Gowan:But it is that culture and that sense of place that I think really excites people about this county as opposed to our position within the region. So those are some huge assets. Obviously, we have access to global markets through BWI Airport and we have, you know, very close proximity to the port of Baltimore. And so the whole northern, northern portion of our county that has an abundance of industrial and flex and warehouse space, and we have that transportation network to support that and that's supportive of our transportation, logistics industry and manufacturing industries. And then, obviously, we have Fort Meade, and so it's the state's largest employer. So 66,000 employees, huge economic engine, over $4 billion in capital investment just in buildings alone. That is happening at the fort right now, and I know there's a lot of uncertainty. But they are still talking about, you know, continued growth in our cyber and defense industry, which is so prominent which is a huge industry for us.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, we have US Cyber Command there, right.
Amy Gowan:Yeah, the headquarters of NSA and the headquarters of US Cyber Command and DISA, and of course we have the Naval Academy too, right. So we have a large military presence in our county, which creates a lot of contracting opportunities and a lot of other opportunities.
Amy Gowan:And then I got to say that former county executive Janet Owens used to call the area around Fort Meade the Gold Coast because there was so much revenue that was coming into county. I guess from the development of the Well and National Business Park right is, you know, a very large, I think 4 million square feet of office space that is 99% occupied. And they're the only ones that are building spec office space, and it's really helped insulate our office market from what we're seeing in other places in the nation post-COVID, where office has been on the decline. Our office vacancy rates are all the same as they were pre-COVID, and so they're, you know, they're still planning to build out the National Business Park. There's a lot of investment there, not only in industry to support Fort Meade, but there's private sector companies like Microsoft that's there as well.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yep, so yeah, so we're lucky that way, and I think that you think that the bond rating agencies are impressed. Our businesses are impressed. We have very low unemployment. We have more jobs than people, which means that people are what matter. All of our businesses know we need more housing. We need good schools and education. We need transportation. We need childcare. We need those things, and so I feel like, and I say this to the bond rating agencies it makes us a stable place, even politically. We don't have wild swings to the left and the right. Businesses love to be able to make a plan. They like consistency. They just need to know what the rules are. Sometimes.
Amy Gowan:Predictability.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Predictability. We try, we try, we try, and so I feel like we knock it out of the park with those bond rating agency interviews and that's why we get our AAA ratings.
Amy Gowan:Yes, fingers crossed.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:We will know soon. Yeah, we'll know soon, but yeah.
Amy Gowan:I agree. I agree. It's just a solid team presenting to the bond of reading agencies and they all seem very impressed.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And I've got to say that economic development in itself and what it does is an amazing group of people. Many of them have been there for many years, and they really take care of each other and they're committed to their work and to our local businesses. But the way that economic development, and you interact with the rest of county government is also really, really important. That you know. You can imagine how the regulatory agencies and the economic development agency could be butting heads. But I feel like, and I've seen it, you have worked with your friends at Plan and Zoning and INP, inspections and Permits and other agencies to streamline processes as best we can to make things easier on businesses, and so that's really gratifying to see.
Amy Gowan:Thank you. Yeah, I think it helps. I kind of know what it's like to be on that side of the fence. You know, I actually like often quote you when you talk. You talked about me going from regulator to facilitator, right.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Exactly, yeah.
Amy Gowan:And I think it's just. It's a great description of my career move and I always, you know, credit you with saying that, but I do think it helps in the advocacy role I'm in to understand what it's like on the other side of the fence right.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Sure.
Amy Gowan:Having been there and understanding the multitude of things that go into how decisions get made, and you know the position that you might be in and having that like empathy and understanding. For you know what someone else is having to contend with, yeah, and knowing how it works right. Like knowing how government works on the inside is definitely helpful.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, you know what? Not to even bother asking for.
Amy Gowan:That's 100% true. I mean and I say that up front whether I'm talking to you know, a business or developer or someone in the county, I'm never going to ask someone to do something that I wouldn't have done if I were in that in their shoes. Yeah, I know when I can ask and when you know when it's not a reasonable ask.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So if people want to get in touch with your office, your team, where do they go?
Amy Gowan:Well they, I would. I would go to our website first and then, you know, they can just go to aaedcorg, to go to our website, which has all of our information on there. Different programs will have different people, but I can guarantee that anyone who connects with us through our website will get to the right place.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, it is a good website, great website, and it's also got interesting information about the county economic indicators and things like that. There's all sorts of stuff on there.
Amy Gowan:Yeah, we put out quarterly reports on the data page. Oh, and I'll give a plug to one of our most subscribed publications, which is our new and expanding business list, and we just put it yeah. It's huge. Well, for the first time we did the whole year. So for the first time, we did a year in review for 2024. So we did a flip book of all the new and expanding businesses. People get excited about that because they want to see, well, what new restaurants are there?
County Executive Steuart Pittman:I mean.
Amy Gowan:So people love that. So that's a good publication.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, it's been great to see post-COVID. The entrepreneurial spirit of Anne Arundel County is strong. People are growing businesses left and right.
Amy Gowan:It is, and we're there to support them every step of the way.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Well, thank you. I hope people will get in touch with you. I hope people out there have all kinds of creative ideas for ways to go into business in this county and we'll do everything we can. Economic development. We'll do everything that you can, I know, to help them along the way, and so thank you for joining us.
Amy Gowan:Thanks, for having me. Yeah, appreciate it.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And if you're listening, and you see a button that says subscribe and you touch it, you will be asked for your email address. And then you'll get an email that says who our next guest is and you can continue to listen to these great podcasts. Thank you.
