2026 Speakers

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 $65 billion in new commercial investment and more than 60,000 new jobs. During this time, the growth in the commercial based has helped lower the tax rate in Loudoun by more than 48 cents on the dollar, saving residents thousands of dollars annually on their tax bills. In 2007, 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 across more than 15 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. Rizer has been named a Tech Titan nine times by Washingtonian Magazine (2017 – 2025), one of the 50 most influential Virginians six times by Virginia Business Magazine (2018 – 2023), a six-time member of Virginia's Power 500 (2020 – 2025), and three times named to the Washington Business Journal's Power 100 as one of the most influential businesspeople in Washington, DC (2020, 2022, 2023). In 2024 and 2025, he was named as one of the 50 most influential people in Northern Virginia by Northern Virginia Magazine. Rizer is a founding member and past chair of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance (NOVA EDA), is a member of the Board of Trustees for Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), past chair of the Northern Virginia Community College Foundation Board, and Secretary of the Go Virginia Region 7 Council. He serves on the Virginia Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and is on the Board of Directors for the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Dulles Free Trade Zone (FTZ #137), and the Washington Airports Task Force (WATF). He is also the Chair of the Rivana at Innovation Station Community Development Authority. Rizer is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD), a certified Entrepreneurship Development Professional (EDP), has a master's in business and economics from Longwood University and is a graduate of Virginia Tech's Local Government Management Graduate Program.

Presenting:

• Managing Data Center Growth: A Public Sector Perspective
• Public Policy Forum: Data Center Doubts: How the Industry’s Addressing Growing Community Concerns