Jessica Stern
Taos County Economic Development Director
Jessica Stern joined the Taos County staff as Economic Development Director in June 2023. In her role, she oversees the entire economic development portfolio for the unincorporated areas of Taos County. Her work focuses on equitable community economic development, small business and entrepreneurial support, and working in partnership to create the conditions for the sustainable and strategic growth of Taos County’s economy that first and foremost benefits local residents and the County’s cultural, natural, and multicultural heritage.
Prior to joining the County, Jessica worked as Senior Manager, Local Arts and Business for Americans for the Arts. During her tenure at Americans for the Arts, Jessica oversaw the strategic development and delivery of tools, services, and networking opportunities for local arts agencies leaders across the country to expand their knowledge of the broad conditions that need to exist for arts integration into equitable economic development and strong arts and business partnerships. She created educational curricula, communications, national strategic partnerships, network services, and peer education to support local arts leaders to become equal and respected partners alongside their economic development and business counterparts. She developed and led Americans for the Arts’ inclusive creative economy initiatives, primarily conducting and producing research and resources for local leaders to identify artistic and cultural assets for the purposes of equitable resource distribution and development.
Prior to joining Americans for the Arts, Jessica worked as the Membership & Resources Manager for the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO), providing oversight of NAO’s statewide membership program while curating nonprofit management best practice resources. She spent nearly five years working with Portland, Oregon’s local Business Committee for the Arts (BCA), delivering programs that engaged BCA’s 200+ business members in generative arts and culture partnerships. She also has served in development and fundraising roles with Metropolitan Youth Symphony and Literary Arts in Portland, Oregon; and has freelanced as an independent web designer and developer.
Jessica graduated from Portland State University with a Master’s in Public Administration, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management, and from Lewis & Clark College with a BA in Ethnomusicology and French Studies. Aside from thinking about how to grow and develop equitable and justice-based economies, and how to celebrate all forms of human creative expression, Jessica enjoys hiking, travel, cooking and listening to music from all over the world.
