For over three decades, Robert Pittman has been a thought leader and innovator in community and economic development. He has held senior management positions in the industry including Director of Economic Development Consulting for a global engineering and consulting firm. He has helped communities, regions and states develop and implement community and economic development strategies, and worked with companies to find the best locations for their operations. He has also served as a university professor teaching graduate courses in community and economic development, and authored numerous articles and books in the field. He holds degrees in economics from Emory and Northwestern universities.
Committed to helping build communities via her collaborative leadership approaches, Rhonda Phillips enjoys working across the globe, presenting at the OECD and many other events. Rhonda was recently appointed as an International Core Faculty Member for youth and community development with UNESCO and recognized with the International Society of Quality-of-Life Studies annual conference Rhonda G. Phillips Endowed Track for the Promotion of Community Development and Community Well-Being. Rhonda is the first woman to graduate with a doctorate in city and regional planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Amanda Sutt grew up in the branding and marketing industry. Her mother founded Rock Paper Scissors in 1986 and Amanda officially joined the business as a project manager after graduating from Appalachian State University. Amanda assumed the role of CEO and Creative Director, leading her team to support clients in a number of industries, including community and economic development, franchises, and nonprofits and other service providers. Amanda was also a certified EMyth Business Coach, which allows her to support marketing clients by helping build internal systems to streamline marketing operations and accelerating results in an increasingly complex marketing climate.