New Leaders Shape Economic and Community Development in Greenville, SC
For economic and community development leaders, part of the job includes attracting people and businesses to the area.
Three transplants recently took on these roles in Greenville and given their firsthand relocation experience and love of the region, they are well-equipped to shepherd everyone from young professionals to families and even major companies here.
Heath Dillard
As president and CEO of VisitGreenvilleSC since November 2022, Heath Dillard oversees the $2.4 billion visitor economy in Greenville and has led the implementation of a communitywide strategy to develop exceptional visitor experiences.
“The mission doesn’t stop at the visitor experience,” Dillard says. “The way we do those things elevates the quality of life for our entire community.”
An Upstate native who grew up in nearby Spartanburg, Dillard spent nearly two decades in Charlotte before Greenville lured him back. For years, Dillard watched Greenville transform into a thriving and vibrant destination for visitors and a magnet for businesses and talent. When a consultant he knew in his economic development role in Charlotte mentioned that VisitGreenvilleSC was on the hunt for a leader, Dillard was hooked.
“I would run down Interstate 85 to take that job,” he told her.
Three years later, Dillard and his family haven’t looked back.
“We have the amenities of a major metro – the arts and culture, live entertainment and sports, a great culinary scene – but we are also really close to nature, with 10 state parks within an hour’s drive and miles of trails and greenways,” he says. “Life in Greenville really does blend the best of both worlds.”
Sam Konduros
As president and CEO of the Greenville City Economic Development Corp. since April 2024, Sam Konduros guides business recruitment and collaboration with economic development partners. While new to his role, Konduros has spent 30 years supporting Greenville’s transformation.
“I moved to Greenville with a new wife three decades ago, and we fell in love with the city together. Greenville is a city that plans; it doesn’t just wait for things to happen,” he says.
His path to Greenville began when he – fresh out of law school at the University of South Carolina in Columbia – went to work for the international business division of the South Carolina Department of Commerce. He helped recruit a wave of international companies to the state, including drawing BMW Manufacturing to the Upstate. Then came European suppliers and an opportunity for Konduros to move to Greenville to head operations for one of those businesses.
Later, he became founding president and CEO of the Upstate SC Alliance, launched his own consulting firm, and developed health research and life sciences businesses in the region. Through it all, Greenville has been a beacon of high-quality economic development and great quality of life, Konduros says. Each day, 28 new residents move into Greenville County, and that magnetic effect means careful planning is key.
“The Greenville City Economic Development Corp. is very targeted and strategic, even selective about what do we want and how to take the city to the next level,” he says.
Max Stewart
Greenville landed on Max Stewart’s radar in 2023. At the time, an economic development deal he’d been competing for in Florida went to the Upstate.
“I hate to lose, but I also had to learn what was going on there,” he says. “We came up, and I said, ‘Boy, I really like this place.’”
By July 2024, Stewart was stepping into his role as president and CEO of the Greenville Area Development Corp. The region’s history as a manufacturing center, the presence of major players, from BMW and Michelin to Lockheed Martin and GE Aerospace, and the rapid growth of the technology and health sciences sectors all add up to strong employer diversity and high-quality jobs for residents. One of the projects Stewart’s organization is working on with other development agencies is how quality of life indicators add up to a better business climate.
“For example, if we were to increase child care accessibility by 10%, could we attract more employees, could we increase GDP?” he says. “There’s a need to make sure we’re interfacing with everybody in the community and finding out who and what will drive economic development and prosperity for everyone.”
Get to Know Greenville, SC
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