Fairfax County Hires Another Economic Development Leader From Arlington

The official who took over as Arlington's interim economic development head after Victor Hoskins left for Fairfax County this summer is now following in his predecessor's footsteps. 

Fairfax County Economic Development Authority announced Monday it has hired Alex Iams as executive vice president, a newly created role. He plans to begin Jan. 21. 

Iams has spent the last 13 years with Arlington Economic Development, including five years as assistant director. He was named interim director in July when Hoskins left AED to take the top role at FCEDA. Iams previously worked at Arlington's Department of Environmental Services and served on the Arlington County Employee Retirement System board of trustees. 

"Alex is an extraordinary talent," Hoskins said in a release. "Both his quantitative and qualitative skills are tops in our profession. His economic impact analysis and analysis of return on investment grounded everything we did in Arlington, and his knowledge of commercial real estate markets is second-to-none."

During Hoskins and Iams' time at AED, they helped the county land Amazon HQ2, winning one of the most high-profile economic development competitions in recent history. They also helped bring Nestlé's U.S. headquarters to Rosslyn in 2017. 

Now as Amazon builds out its second headquarters in Arlington, many of the economic development officials that helped convince the tech giant to come have left for nearby counties. Christina Winn, who served as AED's business investment director during the HQ2 process, was named Prince William County's head of economic development in June.

The Arlington County Manager's office is tasked with finding a new AED director. Assistant County Manager and Director of Communications Bryna Helfer tells Bisnow the search is in the final stages and she hopes to make an announcement "within the next week or so."