Buddy Rizer
Buddy Rizer is the Executive Director for the Department of 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 $50 billion in new commercial investment and more than 50 thousand 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 has spoken internationally on the growth of data centers in Virginia, the importance of incentives and business environment to the industry and the positive impacts data centers have on their communities. He works to market Loudoun's business advantages nationally and has extensive international business development experience in Germany, Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Finland, France, Ireland, India, the UAE, Uruguay, Ghana, and the U.K. has been named a Tech Titan 6 times by Washingtonian Magazine (2017-2022), has been named one of the 50 most influential Virginians 6 times by Virginia Business Magazine (2018-2022), and was twice named to the Washington Business Journal’s Power 100 as one of the most influential businesspeople in Washington, DC. In 2017, Rizer was named one of the top 50 Economic Developers in North America Rizer.
Prior to his career as an economic developer, Mr. Rizer spent more than 30 years as a broadcaster. Mr. Rizer started his radio career at age 15 at WARK/WARX in his hometown of Hagerstown, Maryland, where he rose to the rank of Station Manager and morning host before heading to Washington, D.C. For 16 years, Buddy served as Program Director, Music Director and On-Air Host at DC101 (WWDC-FM) in Washington. While at DC101, Buddy was recognized with several national awards, including Billboard Magazine’s Music Director of the Year. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Rizer was the owner of WTRI Radio in Frederick County, Maryland and its partner newspaper, “The Catoctin Valley Crier”. From 2004 to 2018, he did a weekly radio show on 98Rock (WIYY-FM) in Baltimore, Maryland.
Mr. Rizer serves as the Chair of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance (NOVA EDA), Chair of the Northern Virginia Community College Foundation Board, and Secretary of the Go Virginia Region 7 Council. He is on the Board of Directors for the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and the Washington Airports Task Force (WATF).
Rizer is a certified economic developer and a graduate of Virginia Tech's Local Government Management Graduate Certificate Program.