Many counties across the United States are named in honor of former presidents and prominent Americans like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson is no exception. Famous for its rugged mountains, grasslands, and streams, Colorado’s Jefferson County is one of 26 in the U.S. And although it shares its name with other Jefferson Counties, it continues to distinguish itself from the rest for its many diverse business sectors, growth opportunities, educated workforce, and outstanding quality of life.
“It’s not enough to say, ‘We have the best talent,’” says Carrie Kelly. “Externally, it really is about differentiating ourselves from other Jefferson Counties by building on our strengths and what is special here—especially around innovation and other industry clusters—and getting that information out there.”
Joining the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation (JeffCo EDC) last August as President and Chief Executive Officer, Kelly brings years of industry experience to her role. Serving previously as Managing Director at the Site Selectors Guild, her other positions include CEO and Founder at Pick it Up! Management & Consulting, Executive Director at the Arizona Association for Economic Development, and Executive Director at the Downtown Santa Barbara Organization.
With extensive knowledge in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, Kelly was the ideal choice to lead JeffCo EDC. While at the Arizona Association for Economic Development, she grew membership over 40 percent, and leading key strategic advocacy efforts saw large investments from major corporations like Intel and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
“Carrie brings a unique blend of strategic vision, operational excellence, and a passion for building collaborative communities,” stated Tony Giarratano, JeffCo EDC’s Chair of the Board, in a media release. “She sees the big picture while understanding the day-to-day effort required to move a region forward. Her leadership will be vital as JeffCo EDC continues to grow its reach and impact.”
A connected ecosystem
“I think what ultimately brought me to JeffCo was JeffCo,” says Kelly, whose previous positions saw her having “a front row seat into economic development organizations,” and how they operate across the U.S. and worldwide. “I saw different funding models, structures, missions, strategic plans, and staffing approaches, and Jefferson County really stood out. It is a place where I can see myself living, working, and raising my nine-year-old daughter, which was really important to me.”
Along with the county’s many amenities, she was drawn to JeffCo’s organizational structure itself, built around three pillars she considers essential for community economic vitality. Unlike some other counties, JeffCo EDC’s integrated model brings together economic development, Chamber initiatives, and leadership programming under a single umbrella.
“It’s a unique structure, having the Chamber, the EDC, and Leadership JeffCo under one umbrella of JeffCo EDC,” she says. “It’s a connected ecosystem.” JeffCo EDC works on the strategic side, focused on attracting and supporting primary employers, business attraction and retention, growing primary industries and sites, and policy development. The Chamber, meanwhile, is focused on small business and networking events in the region.
For over 40 years, Leadership JeffCo has remained the key pipeline bringing together emerging and established leaders from business, government, education, and nonprofits to build relationships, understand the underpinnings of the community, and work to execute initiatives.
“It’s a really incredible continuum of economic vitality that we have in the community, and definitely why I was interested in coming here,” adds Kelly. “Since I’ve come on board, I would say my guiding principle has been with the intersection of those three pillars, and using that vantage point to tell the JeffCo story more clearly.”
Although Jefferson County isn’t Metro Denver or a mountain community, the area is a strong tourism destination and so much more. “We are a county with our own economic identity,” states Kelly. “We have world-class employers, thriving businesses, and leaders that show up day after day for the community. So it’s really about focusing on driving our work in those three pillars and creating an original plan that encompasses all of those and that storytelling. We are doing that for potential investors, the community, the state, and site selectors, and all those different points translate into those arenas.”
Key industries
Over the years, diverse businesses have chosen to call Jefferson County home, including those in advanced manufacturing, aerospace, energy, and outdoor recreation, and much of this has been made possible by Leigh Seeger, Vice President of Economic Development. A fourth-generation Colorado native, Seeger has been with the EDC for over 15 years and is responsible for creating, implementing, and managing the economic development workplan and its efforts to attract, expand, and retain primary employers in Jefferson County. Her main responsibilities are focused on business recruitment and expansion of primary employers, working directly with businesses and site location consultants and handling recruitment and expansion deals for companies including Lockheed Martin, Ball Aerospace, CoorsTek, Pilatus Business Aircraft, the Coleman Company, and many more.
At JeffCo, industry sectors are broken down into two categories. The first are major primary industry clusters with an established presence who are growing and have a large concentration of employment and resources. Traditionally, this includes aerospace and the likes of Lockheed Martin Space, one of five divisions headquartered in Jefferson County. The second category are targeted strategic sectors that may not be large and established like primary clusters but are ones that are seeing a lot of activity and rapid growth.
Another major target for JeffCo is energy. “We’ve got the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) here, which is the federal government’s premier energy laboratory in Jefferson County, and a big driver for the cleantech/renewable energy side,” explains Seeger.
On the biosciences side—medical devices in particular—the area is home to Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies (BCT), a major employer and the State of Colorado’s largest medical device manufacturer.
To help ensure business attraction, the team at JeffCo EDC monitors strategic industry clusters where there is a lot of activity and interest in the county. “We want to make sure we understand that ecosystem, know where we are competitive, and see where we can improve and direct our resources in terms of proactive recruitment and marketing,” says Seeger.
Aviation and complementary businesses remain a key focus for the county. The area is home to Jefferson County’s regional airport, the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (RMMA). With nearly 200 acres of aviation land for development, it has been earmarked as a strategic growth area.
Along with these sectors, another fast-growing area is “R.E.D..” An acronym for Research, Engineering & Design, R.E.D. industry employment in the county grew 23.5 percent from 2018 to 2023, far outpacing the 17 percent national growth rate. According to JeffCo, “the concentration of ‘R.E.D.’ jobs in Jefferson County is nearly three times the national average.” And no wonder, with assets like the top-rated Colorado School of Mines and 243 percent more engineers than the national average. “We’ve got a lot of engineering companies and talent here, so we compete very well for companies that need engineering employees,” says Seeger.
Other factors boosting attraction and retention include Colorado’s ranking as the number two state to start a business and number one for women entrepreneurs. And to help further support the business community, Jefferson recently became one of the first counties to eliminate its portion of the business personal property tax. These incentives, and many others, are paying off.
“We had the second-largest number of approved incentives for their fiscal year 2025 amongst the 64 communities in Colorado,” shares Seeger. “The State of Colorado has a number of incentive programs to recruit companies to Colorado, and the largest is the Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit.” Performance-based, the Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit is an eight-year job creation incentive supporting “competitive, multi-state, or country relocation and expansion projects,” according to Colorado’s Office of Economic Development & International Trade. “The tax credit gives businesses a Colorado state income tax up to 50 percent of the FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) tax paid by the business per net new job for each calendar year in the credit period.”
Business-friendly
One of JeffCo’s biggest mandates is working with the government affairs committee on business-friendly legislation. “One thing we do for economic development is we try to streamline and make all incentive applications and processes as easy as possible for companies,” says Seeger. “JeffCo EDC helps with the process and site selection in general. We help facilitate incentive requests to make it as easy as possible, to help make Jefferson County the most competitive location in terms of cost of doing business.”
Owing to its business-friendly environment, established industry base, tax incentives, and much more, Jefferson County is seeing plenty of interest from not only U.S.-based companies, but those from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, many involved in developing new technologies, cleantech, and advanced research. Other firms are choosing Colorado to reshore their operations back to America.
Among the recent companies coming to Jefferson County is low-carbon iron startup Electra who is building a 130,000-square-foot facility in the county. Expected to be operational by mid-2026, Electra will create hundreds of well-paying jobs and invest millions in new capital.
The area will also soon see Quantum COmmons in Arvada. Currently under development, this will be a 70-acre high-end quantum research center, an industry campus, and a place for companies to locate and invest. “We’ve got a pretty good lead on the competitive advantages and ecosystem for quantum industry in Colorado, so this will really increase that and make us the epicenter of the world for this industry,” says Seeger. “It recently broke ground, and will be a huge international asset for Colorado and JeffCo.”
Although business sectors may shift over time, JeffCo EDC is there to advocate for high-impact industries, including cleantech, quantum, aerospace, and other entities that bring lots of opportunity to the region, export a majority of their goods or services, invest in capital, hire local employees, pay high average wages, and have a strong job multiplier effect to strengthen and anchor industry clusters. “Cleantech is an area we have always led in, and I think that is something we will continue to focus on,” says Seeger. “JeffCo has one of the highest concentrations of cleantech employment in the state, so that’s something we see a lot of activity in. I think quantum is also going to be a big driver soon in terms of economic activity.”
These, Seeger says, are areas in which Jefferson County truly stands apart and will continue to do so—celebrating industries and welcoming businesses “that have high impact, support our existing ecosystem, and will help drive growth.”
