Theresa Park on How Immigrants Revitalize U.S. Cities

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Theresa Park, Deputy Director and Senior Executive Vice President at MassDevelopment, a group that offers financing and real estate solutions to drive economic growth across Massachusetts. An immigrant from Korea who moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, Theresa saw first-hand how immigrants built their lives from the ground up, and in so doing brought economic and cultural vibrancy to their new home cities. And when she went on to work for cities like Lowell and Lawrence, she herself was the one to reach out to immigrant-owned businesses, nurture their growth, and see their broad impact. In this week’s JobMakers, Theresa talks us through her experience with immigrant business owners, how she developed their trust, how she celebrates them, and the many ways they enrich their new homeland.

Guest:

Theresa Park is Deputy Director and Senior Executive Vice President at MassDevelopment, the Bay State's development finance agency and land bank. Theresa comes to MassDevelopment with 25 years of regional and municipal planning experience. She most recently served as the executive director of the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission. Theresa's planning background includes serving as director of the office of planning and development for the City of Lawrence. Prior to that, she led economic development for the City of Lowell, was principal planner at the City of Newton, and held different roles in Cambridge. Theresa received her master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. Her non-work hours are spent serving on boards, globetrotting, and learning home-improvement projects.