Casey Rooney

Casey Rooney is the Economic Development Director for the City of Cottonwood.  Casey is a recent transplant to Arizona from the Champaign Illinois area.  Casey is joined by his wife Jodi.  Jodi is the Central Yavapai Metropolitan Planning Organization Administrator. They come to the community as a team to hopefully add value.  In addition to representing the Economic Development interests of the City, Casey is providing staff support to the Cottonwood Economic Development Council.  He is also a member of the NACOG Economic Development Council and on the Yavapai College Specialty Light Manufacturing Association Advisory Council.

Prior to arriving in Arizona, Casey worked for the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) as their Economic Development Manager.  He worked closely with the University of Illinois’ Research Park and Business Incubator to facilitate entrepreneurial growth.  Casey’s 25 plus year career has included positions as a Chamber of Commerce Director in Mattoon Illinois and the Director of the Center for Manufacturing Excellence, a 30,000 sq. ft. industrial training center and business incubator at Carl Sandburg College that he developed and constructed.  He worked as a project manager for the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center at Bradley University in Peoria Illinois and the California Manufacturing Technology Center in Los Angeles.  Prior to those professional experiences he held responsible positions in several global companies including United Technologies Carrier Corporation and Sundstrand Aviation.

Casey’s educational accomplishments include an MBA from the University of LaVerne in California and a B.S. in Industrial Training Technology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Although employed by the City of Cottonwood, he considers himself a supporter of regional economic development efforts.  He realizes the unique characteristics of each community in Yavapai County and is supportive of cooperative, sustainable and globally competitive initiatives.