Anna Lea’s background spans nearly 20 years in economic development and industrial site location-related roles. Her most recent large economic development assignment was co-leading the development and marketing of 1,825-acre Greensboro-Randolph Megasite (“GRMS”) to secure Toyota’s first $5.6B EV Battery Manufacturing plant when she was Vice President for Economic Development at the North Carolina Railroad Company, the largest investor in the GRMS site. In this role, she also launched & managed NCRR Invests, a rail infrastructure investment strategy used to recruit new or expanded rail-using businesses to North Carolina. From 2016-2022, NCRR invested more than $16M into rail for manufacturers, successfully partnering to secure new N.C. manufacturing locations for Nestle Purina, Red Bull, Sherwin Williams, National Gypsum, EGGER Wood Products and Charlotte Pipe, among others.Along the way, Anna has built expertise and experience in site location strategy, site development and incentive policy and negotiations along with a deep network of economic development allies across the Southeast U.S. While Anna’s most recent experience includes a heavy focus on manufacturing, she has worked with clients from multiple sectors including, office/headquarters, research & development and life sciences.

- Launched & managed NCRR Invests, a rail infrastructure investment strategy used to recruit new or expanded rail-using businesses to North Carolina Results: Invested approx. $60M (incl. $44M into Greensboro-Randolph Megasite) into communities across N.C., yeilding $13.7B in private capital investment and creation of 14,480 new jobsby companies including Toyota, Nestle Purina Petcare, Charlotte Pipe, EGGER Wood Products and National Gypsum- Development of Greensboro-Randolph Megasite: Co-led development and all marketing of Greensboro-Randolph Megasite to secure new Toyota's first EV Battery Manufacturing facility currently under construction in Randolph County, NC.- Launched Build-Ready Sites: evaluated rail-served industrial sites across N.C. for investments in land preparation activities aimed at reducing development timelines for each. Selected six sites for total of $2.92M investment.- Created N.C.'s (and one of few in U.S.) only rail-served industrial building and sites database- Formalized, expanded and managed NCRR economic development division- Partnered with state and local economic development organizations and railroads to position N.C as best U.S. state for easily accessible offering of industrial sites, funding and opportunities for rail-using companies considering a new operation or expansion.

- Successfully managed and landed new N.C. locations for the largest recorded private capital investment in the state’s history (Novo Nordisk) along with three of the largest job creation announcements in the U.S. during 2014-2015: Novo Nordisk (2015), Sealed Air (2014), HCL America (2014).- Project Manager for opportunities where companies considered N.C. locations for new or expanded corporate operations.