First Stop Shop Gains New Business Development Manager

Stacy Crakes joined the Scott County Community Development Agency near the end of 2012 as the County’s first-ever business development manager, tasked with leading the SCALE initiated “First Stop Shop” resource.

The First Stop Shop will provide businesses with site selection services; comprehensive data collection; customer service education and training; and will assist cities, townships, and Scott County in their economic development goals. 

“Essentially, my role is to meet with the cities and other partners to understand what their economic development needs are,” Crakes said. “We’re creating a program that can be the ‘first stop’ resource for businesses seeking to locate or expand within the Scott County communities."  

Crakes, who holds a BS in civil engineering and an MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, has spent the last ten years in the private sector, something that CDA’s Executive Director Bill Jaffa sees as a valuable asset. 

“The combination of private sector insight with County, City, and Township economic development partnerships will provide a unique synergy to First Stop Shop,” he said. 

“I was immediately drawn to this career opportunity because of its uniqueness – the chance to work with a brand-new startup program that partners the private and public sector,” Crakes said. Additionally, “… I wanted to spend less time traveling around the country as I did in my previous position, and focus on an area close to home in order to really make an impact within the community where my family and I live.”

Her first order of business? 

“To begin building relationships and a network of contacts and compile information and data so we can respond quickly to business requests. Then we’ll begin building resources for marketing support and training needs,” Crakes said. 

An Eagan native, Stacy Crakes and her family (which includes her husband, Ryan, and 22-month-old daughter, Adalynn) currently reside in Savage, where she still enjoys partaking in a favorite hobby: playing and coaching volleyball.

For more information about Stacy Crakes or the “First Stop Shop” resource, please visit their website – at www.scottfss.org or contact Stacy directly at (952) 496-8613 or via e-mail at SCrakes@scottfss.org.

(The above information is a news release from Scott County.)