Juli Wilkerson’s job as director of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (CTED) includes traveling to different communities in the state, learning about them and their economic development initiatives and needs, for business, tourism, and trade. This task brought her to Kitsap County last month, where, hosted by the Kitsap Economic Development Council (KEDC), Wilkerson spent a day and a half touring the county.

Wilkerson, who has served as CTED’s director since January 2004, came to the economic development trade in a roundabout way. Born and raised in Iowa, her family moved to Omaha where she attended high school. Wilkerson earned her Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education and social sciences at the University of Nebraska, and also received her Master’s degree in education there. From 1974 to 1978 she taught junior high school in Omaha. But Wilkerson wasn’t content to stay in Nebraska.

“I lived in the Mid West all my life and I really wanted to explore different options,” she said.

She chose to come to Spokane, Washington, partly because a family she had known from her hometown in Iowa resided there. The move to Spokane was also part of an evaluation of her career path. Wilkerson’s fondness for politics, policy, and history, as well as volunteer work for the Spokane Attorney General’s office, prompted her to attend Gonzaga University School of Law, where she earned her law degree in 1983.

Although Wilkerson is a current member of the Washington State Bar Association, she never really practiced law. Post-law school jobs took her to the Olympia Attorney General’s office and then to the Washington State Department of Revenue. Although her work for these agencies was not specifically related to economic development, they provided her with some experiences that helped inform her later economic development work.

“I traveled the state with the attorney general,” said Wilkerson, “this helped me get a feel for legal and community issues across the state. Through the Department of Revenue I got to know the tax structure and learned about communities and the financial needs they had and how the tax structure affected them.”

Her first real economic development work came when she joined the city of Tacoma, first as the assistant city manager, then as the city’s director of planning and development services, and, most recently, as director of the city of Tacoma’s economic development department.

“I got involved so much with revitalization, downtowns, historic preservations, museums…I just fell in love with the work,” said Wilkerson.

While director of Tacoma’s economic development department, Wilkerson oversaw an internationally award-winning marketing campaign for the city: “Tacoma, Washington: America’s #1 Wired City!” Now the head of CTED, the state agency that is tasked with “investing in the health and vitality of Washington’s families, communities, and businesses,” Wilkerson is again pushing for an aggressive, cohesive marketing campaign that can be used to get the state of Washington and its individual communities noticed.

“We are way behind most states on marketing spending,” said Wilkerson.

In fact, out of 13 western states, she said, Washington ranks 13th in marketing spending. Wilkerson noted the vital importance of state marketing campaigns, not just for tourism, but also for business and trade.

“If you want to attract trade from China or Japan, you can’t just sit back and not promote it,” she said. “If companies don’t know anything about you, they’ll go somewhere else.”

The basic message of CTED’s campaign is that Washington is “innovative, primed and ready for business, and that we have a lifestyle that can’t be beat.” A big portion of her visits to communities around the state has revolved around finding out ways that CTED can partner with communities to bring this marketing brand statewide, and, at the same time, help communities tie their own unique qualities to this state brand.

“When I travel to a community, I always ask, ‘What are you trying to target and how can it fit under this message?’” said Wilkerson.

Wilkerson asked that question on her recent visit to Kitsap and was pleased to see that the communities here were embracing economic development.

“What a beautiful place to live and work,” said Wilkerson. “People [in Kitsap are very engaged in making things happen. I saw a real willingness to roll up sleeves and work together to make things better.”

Her visit here included a windshield tour and briefing at PSNS and a first-hand look at four companies: Dimension4 in Bremerton, Mercury Online Solutions on Bainbridge Island, Olympic College’s Poulsbo campus, and Leader International in Port Orchard. She visited the Port of Bremerton and business parks and commercial development on Day Road, Powder Hill, Twelve Trees, and Olhava. She also attended several gatherings that provided her with an opportunity to interact with more than 40 business and community leaders.

“There’s a lot of really good thinking around technology and fiber optics,” she said of Kitsap’s economic development efforts. “Tourism is also a strong component. And the development of the [Bremerton] waterfront is a huge success story.”

She also noted the county’s good business parks, the connectivity provided by the county’s highways and roads, water access and ferry transportation, and the ease with which individuals could work in one community and live in another among the county’s economic development strong points.

Most of all, “everyone is leveraging the special nature of the quality of life,” said Wilkerson.

Wilkerson would not speculate on what she thought the county could be doing better.

“I really believe that economic development occurs at the local level,” she said. “I would be the last person to tell a community what they ‘should’ be doing. If I was going to give advice it would be this: Keep your vision in front of you, partner, be creative. No one can do it alone. This is a long-term, every day for the rest of your life proposition. It’s hard work and it doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s incredibly rewarding.”.