Feature: 6 Questions with Buddy Rizer

6 QUESTIONS WITH BUDDY RIZER

Buddy Rizer, Executive Director for Loundon County Economic Development

1. WHAT IS LOUDOUN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT’S MISSION?

Our mission statement is to provide excellent customer-focused economic development services to attract, grow and retain targeted businesses, and to promote entrepreneurism, in order to diversify and strengthen Loudon’s economy.

How do we translate these high-level aspirations into reality? It really starts with putting people first. Even in the rather technical world of fiber and subsea telecom, there are people at either ends of the line that are communicating at the speed of life. There are thousands of jobs that are supported by those cables, including many in Loudoun County, a land-locked region 100+ miles from the coast.

Since 2017, Loudoun County, home to Ashburn and Data Center Alley, has been the world’s foremost leader in data center capacity and development. Data centers provide nearly 40% of the county’s tax base, and the people that work in and around data centers number in the tens of thousands. Looking ahead, we see the data economy extending beyond the secure walls of data centers, and being a major attraction for businesses in the data analytics, machine learning, mixed reality, biohealth and cybersecurity industries.

2: HOW DOES LOUDOUN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE SUBMARINE CABLE MARKET?

Data that supports critical infrastructure and operations around the world is hosted on servers in Loudoun County and is accessible in less than the blink of an eye. This type of global service is only possible in the last few years, as subsea cables have been laid between Virginia Beach and Europe, Africa, South America, and other East Coast locations. Fiber that used to run 300 miles overland to New Jersey now runs a fraction of that to the coast before making its Transatlantic journey.

Thanks to the extensive fiber connectivity through Virginia Beach, Loudoun remains an ideal business location, along with Henrico County and elsewhere in Virginia that were previously known for coal and tobacco production. Because of the subsea connectivity, those locations are not just viable, but also desirable for cloud investment. We salute the subsea visionaries that made this happen.

Looking ahead, Loudoun will continue to work with our data center community in pursuit of shared workforce development goals, renewable energy, educational inclusivity and digital equity. Data centers have the ability to transform a community through investment, but it all comes back to connectivity. As we like to say, connection makes this all #LoudounPossible.

3: IS LOUDOUN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CURRENTLY INVOLVED WITH ANY NEW SUBMARINE CABLE PROJECTS?

That’s classified :-)

4: WHAT MAKES LOUDOUN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOP- MENT UNIQUE IN THE SUBMARINE SYSTEM MARKET?

Located just outside of Washington, D.C., Loudoun County has a long history of serving as a connection point for the federal government. What makes Loudoun unique in the subsea cable business is our relative distance from the sea, as well as our growth without that direct access to transatlantic fiber. As many will remember TAT-8 was the first transatlantic fiber line in 1988, a joint venture among AT&T, Télécom, and British Telecom. It connected points in France and England to Tuckerton, N.J., and overland fiber then connected Ashburn to the world. That connectivity was greatly enhanced by the dot com giants like AOL, UUNet, MCI, Worldcom and more, laying the infrastructure for what would later become Data Center Alley.

It wasn’t until 2018 that Virginia first got direct connectivity to the world, first to Brazil with BRUSA, then Spain with MAREA, Denmark via Midgardsormen in 2019, and France through Dunant in 2021. Each of these major subsea projects through Virginia Beach serves to further connect Loudoun County to the world’s largest tech hubs, increasing speed, redundancy and resilience.

5: WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF LOUDOUN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT’S SUCCESS?

In October 2021, Loudoun Economic Development was awarded the highest honors by the International Economic Development Council: the Gold Award for Economic Development Organization of the Year. Over the last decade-and-a-half, Loudoun has attracted tens of billions of dollars in new commercial investment, reduced the personal property tax rate by 32 cents, and increased services for all Loudoun residents.

Our commitment to #LoudounPossible success starts with the stewardship of our Board of Supervisors, the leadership of our County Administration and the collaboration among each of our county departments. It is this commitment that guides everything we do.

Since early March 2020, the dominant global storylines have been the health and economic crises caused by COVID-19 and the important discussion of diversity, equity and inclusion. Few states weathered the storms as well as Virginia, which was named “America’s Top State for Business” for 2021 by CNBC. Zoom in further, and it’s clear that Virginia’s story is best exemplified by Loudoun County, including:

Workforce: Companies located in Loudoun draw from a labor pool where more than 60% have at least a bachelor’s degree. Located within four hours of hundreds of top universities, Loudoun also has a strong talent pipeline for the future.

Life: Loudoun is consistently named the safest county for crime in Northern Virginia, and FEMA recently named Loudoun County the safest county in the U.S. from natural disasters. It’s no wonder that SmartAsset has also ranked Virginia as its Happiest Large County in the U.S. for several years running.

Inclusion: Loudoun County is home to Dulles International Airport, and has strong international ties to southern Asia, South America and Europe. In fact, one-in-four Loudoun residents was born internationally, and more than 150 languages are spoken at home. On the county level, Loudoun has one of the highest percentages of Indian populations in the U.S.

Health: Loudoun is the fourth-healthiest county in America, according to new rankings from the U.S. News and World Report. This includes a smoking rate that is half of the national average, and a life expectancy that’s seven years longer than the national average.

6: WHAT IS NEXT FOR LOUDOUN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?

With the largest density of fiber in the world, a blossoming data economy and the impending arrival of Metro’s Silver Line in 2022, Loudoun’s future has never looked brighter. While many of the large parcels for hyperscale data center development are already spoken for, Loudoun will continue to be a leader innovation, including multistory development, renewable energy and digital equity. Outside of the data economy, Loudoun will also look to build on its foundations in the agriculture, highly specialized manufacturing and tourism industries, while providing support for entrepreneurs, government contractors and international firms looking for a soft landing in the U.S. market. STF

BUDDY RIZER serves as the Executive Director for economic development in Loudoun County, Virginia, which was named the 2021 Economic Development Organization of the Year by the International Economic Development Council. He leads the agency responsible for encouraging growth and developing relationships with Loudoun’s business community in both the commercial and agricultural-based business sectors. During his tenure, Rizer and his team have attracted more than $35 billion in new investment and tens of thousands of new jobs.

In 2007, Mr. Rizer joined Loudoun County and helped build “Data Center Alley” into the largest concentration of data centers in the world. He also has extensive international business development experience in China, France, Germany, Russia, Ireland, United Kingdom, Finland, Taiwan, Japan, India, Korea and United Arab Emirates.

Mr. Rizer has been named a Tech Titan 5 times by Washingtonian Magazine, has been named one of the 50 most influential Virginians 4 times by Virginia Business Magazine, and was named to the Washington Business Journal’s Power 100 as one of the most influential business people in Washington, DC in 2019.

Mr. Rizer serves as the Chair of the Northern Virginia Community College Foundation Board and is the Secretary of the Go Virginia Region 7 Council. He is on the Board of Directors for the Northern Virginia Technology Council and is a founding member of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance. Mr. Rizer is a certified economic developer and a graduate of Virginia Tech’s Local Government Management Graduate Certificate Program.

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