PROUD INVESTORS & TRUSTEES
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Nicholas Brake, Ph. D.
P.O. Box 782
Owensboro, KY 42302
270-926-4339
nbrake@owensboro.com
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Nick Brake, a 42-year-old native of northern Kentucky, is President/CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation.
In his three years at GO-EDC, Dr. Brake has led aggressive efforts to strategically reposition Kentucky’s third largest city as a dynamic and diversified region generating wealth, quality jobs and improving quality of place.
Under Dr. Brake’s leadership, GO-EDC has developed an infrastructure supporting the development of high technology company growth through the creation of the Emerging Ventures Center for Innovation, a local seed capital fund, and a newly announced business accelerator and research facility. Owensboro and the entire northwest Kentucky region has become a center for plant biotechnology and renewable energy, attracting 13 new high tech startups and over $ 2 million in venture capital to Owensboro in the past two years.
In 2008, the GO-EDC spearheaded a downtown revitalization effort that resulted in a market-based master plan that was adopted and funded by the local government. Guided by the principles of new urbanism, the $120 million project will reinvent the downtown as a walkable mixed-use urban center.
Prior to coming to GO-EDC, Dr. Brake served as a vice president and dean at the Owensboro Community and Technical College, where he was a founder of the nationally recognized Discover College program.
He serves on the board of directors of the Owensboro Biotech Alliance, Western Kentucky University-Owensboro, the Green River Economic Development Corporation, the Green River Regional Workforce Investment Board, Junior Achievement of Owensboro, and the Owensboro Public Art Commission. His professional memberships include the Kentucky Association for Economic Development, the International Council for Economic Development, the Urban Land Institute, and the Congress for the New Urbanism.
Dr. Brake holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education and Policy from the University of Louisville. He has completed further study in economic development and urban planning from the University of Miami (FL) School of Architecture, the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky, and the Council for Community and Economic Research. His bachelors and masters degrees are both in history. He has taught history, economics, and research methods at the high school level and at Western Kentucky University, Brescia University, and the Owensboro Community and Technical College.
He and his wife Candance have two children, Anna Caroline and Nicholas.
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