Beth Siegel

Beth Siegel Planner, author, economic analyst and educator, Beth Siegel believes economic development is vital — but that it must be sustainable, and shared across society’s income strata. With that credo, she and the Massachusetts-based consulting firm she co-founded — Mt. Auburn Associates — have been national leaders in forgoing cohesive and coherent regional economic development strategies.

The sophisticated blueprints for region-wide business opportunity that Siegel has crafted embody her central theme — wealth generation through sophisticated region-wide business development combined with a careful eye on not-so-obvious issues as workforce development, community development and social justice. Siegel also understands process and implementation issues, and ably mediated the interests of diverse players to forge working collaborations.

Dozens of communities/regions in the Northeast have benefitted from her hands on strategic planning efforts. Others nationally became more familiar with her multi-faceted approach through her report in the mid 90′s to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation — Jobs and the Urban Poor. Foundations and government agencies which share those interests also turn to her to assess how they can more effectively leverage key opportunities and resources in these communities.

In recent years Siegel has gained recognition for her work on the strategic role that arts and cultural play in economic growth, including a pathbreaking study — The Role of the Arts and Culture in New England’s Economic Competitiveness. With concern for the fate of hometown cities, she also recently produced a report for the U.S. Economic Development Administration — Third Tier Cities: Adjusting to the New Economy. Siegel also recently completed a new model of business-labor collaboration for California’s San Joaquin Valley.

Prior to founding Mt. Auburn Associates, Siegel served as Deputy Research Director of the Massachusetts Governor’s Commission on the Future of Mature Industries and spent four years as Senior Associate at Counsel for Community Development, a pioneer in development finance. She has taught economic development planning in the graduate planning programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University. Ms. Siegel received a Master in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University.

Last updated December 18, 2002