about the speaker

Mark Sweeney, Senior Principal

Mark Sweeney is a senior principal in McCallum Sweeney Consulting (MSC),providing site selection services and economic development consulting to companies and organizations worldwide. Recent MSC clients include LM Glasfiber, PACCAR, Berg Pipe, Cytec Materials, Oreck, Nissan, and Michelin.

With more than nineteen years experience in site selection and economic development, Mr. Sweeney assists companies identifying, evaluating and selecting the optimal location for their capital investments. Such projects cover a wide array of related factors, including sites, infrastructure, transportation, labor and demographics, state and local taxes, utility services, incentives, etc.

Mr. Sweeney also provides consulting services to leading economic development organizations across the United States in such areas as strategic planning and organizational design, site certification, adaptive reuse, target industry programs, incentive strategies and sustainable development.

Mr. Sweeney has assisted clients in a wide variety of industries, from automotive manufacturing to software development and internet services. Recent clients include Nissan (headquarters; auto assembly; engine; distribution), Michelin (tire and rubber mfg; distribution), Dollar General (distribution); and Oreck (headquarters; appliance mfg). Of particular note are the Nissan headquarters relocation from Los Angeles to Nashville TN (November 2005) and the Nissan auto assembly project that announced in Canton, MS (November 2000). Mr. Sweeney has conducted siting projects in Europe and Asia as well as most regions of the United States. Economic development clients include TVA, Southern California Edison and Duke Power; the States of Oklahoma and Tennessee; and Alexandria LA.

Mr. Sweeney spent over five years at the South Carolina Department of Commerce, serving as Director of Research and Communication. There, he directed departments providing project management support, information management (including world’s leading economic development application of Geographic Information Systems), and communications. Mr. Sweeney was also one of the authors of Approaching 2000 — An Economic Development Vision for South Carolina, a state strategic plan for economic development.

Mr. Sweeney has a Masters in Business Administration from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Science from Appalachian State University. In addition, Mr. Sweeney was a recipient of a Murphy Fellowship for graduate work in economics at Tulane University. He lives in Greenville, SC.