(Affiliated Consultant) - Economic Development Strategy

Stephen Wahlstrom is an independent consultant affiliated with EDR Group, representing the firm from his home base in California. He is an expert on strategic planning for economic development and business attraction, as well as market studies of economic development opportunities.

Mr. Wahlstrom has more than 20 years of experience as a consulting planner and economist. He has served local governments and private land development clients throughout the Western United States Mr. Wahlstrom has successfully conducted more than 200 consulting jobs, including work with Economic Development Research Group, as Wahlstrom and Associates, and earlier as a founder of Applied Development Economics and as a managing consultant at Seifel Consulting.

Through his experience in the field, he has developed a broad range of capabilities and skills in the subjects of economic development, impact analysis, downtown revitalization, project feasibility studies, business attraction and retention, performance measures, and all types of market studies.

He works well with people and is proficient in facilitating decision-making. He also understands quantitative analysis, which forms the backbone of most consulting projects. He is an active member of the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED), and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). He has made expert panel presentations at the American Planning Association, California Redevelopment Association, and the IECD annual conferences. He also participated in an Urban Land Institute advisory panel that was asked to assist Rantoul, Illinois after the closure of Chanute Air Force Base.

Mr. Wahlstrom has earned a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the University of California at Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington in Seattle. He also served for two years as an economist for the U.S. Peace Corps in the Philippines.