Hudson EDC Executive Director Elizabeth Spinelli Selected as 2004 Woman of Influence by NJ Biz News

When Elizabeth Spinelli became executive director of the Hudson County Economic Development Corp. (EDC) in 1997, the county had 647 known contaminated sites on its 46.6 square miles. "I had brownfields for everybody in Hudson County -- 14 sites for every square mile," she recalls.

No longer. With Spinelli's help and encouragement, the county has remediated more than one-third of those sites. Spinelli assembled a group of bankers, developers, educators and representatives of state and federal agencies to plan and finance viable projects. For example, a Hampton Inn in Harrison now attracts travelers to the site of a former eyesore; a toddler park and a 160-unit senior housing complex in Kearny have sprouted on long-overlooked lots.

Spinelli, 56, has proven adept at securing federal cleanup funds. She has so far secured roughly $200,000 apiece from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

At the same time, she has lined up private financing to help businesses grow. Under Spinelli's direction, the Hudson EDC has disbursed $3.8 million in loans to 46 businesses, most of them women- and minority-owned. Loan recipients must create at least one new job for low- and moderate-income individuals for every $35,000 borrowed--a stipulation that has so far spurred the creation of some 500 new jobs.

Spinelli joined the Hudson EDC after 27 years at New Jersey Bell [now part of Verizon]. She was a sales coach for the company whose region included New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. She says she continues to sell in her current job, only now the products are economic development and the benefits of living and working in Hudson County. "Good salespeople are born, not made," Spinelli says.

Born and raised in Jersey City, Spinelli herself is a Hudson County success. Today her personal life is filled with her daughter Kimberly and two grandsons, ages 9 and 2. It's also taken up with Anthony Amabile, a political consultant to whom she is engaged.