Leader Bios

In her 27 years with the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Jill Quinn has worked for every agency within the organization. As a result, her knowledge of the Kansas City community runs deep. Serving as Executive Assistant to the President and CEO of the EDC, Quinn supports all aspects of the organization’s myriad programs, including Kansas City business retention and expansion, EDC external marketing, urban development and redevelopment plans for the city.

Quinn works extensively with the EDC board of directors, executive committee and Charitable Fund board. Through her management of numerous events and activities, she also maintains close ties to many of the city’s business and political leaders, including City Council members and the Mayor’s office.

Although she originally intended to work as a history teacher, Quinn found herself at the EDC in its early days and realized her true calling was the preservation of local history through the renovation and ongoing growth of the city. She’s been at the EDC ever since.

In addition to her work as Executive Assistant to the CEO, Quinn serves as an association manager for the Kansas City Industrial Council, a partner organization of the EDC. She also helped form the Missouri Economic Development Financing Association, Inc., and has worked as a consultant with the association ever since. This organization promotes the responsible use of all economic development financing incentive programs in the state of Missouri.

Quinn’s numerous professional affiliations include Meeting Professionals International, Missouri Society of Association Executive and Notary Public – State of Missouri. She is also actively involved as a community volunteer, including work at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, the Titanic Exhibition at Union Station, KC Riverfest and the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial.

Key Achievements

• 2003-04 Board Brilliance Award – Kansas City Chapter, Meeting Professionals International
• 2003-04 Program of the Year Award – Kansas City Chapter, Meeting Professionals International
• 2010 – Forrest L. “Frosty” Langdon Award for excellence in service from the Kansas City Industrial Council, which promotes the economic strength of Kansas City’s industrial areas.
• Director of the EDC’s annual Cornerstone Awards, which recognize outstanding projects and companies for their commitment to Kansas City.

Quinn earned her bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where her major areas of study were history and political science. She currently lives North of the River in Platte County, and she enjoys travel, reading, volunteering and hiking.

Joseph F. Egan brings more than three decades of leadership experience to his role as Executive Director of the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, which provides Kansas City, Missouri, businesses and individuals with development incentives including tax abatement, bond financing, sale/leaseback, land assemblage (acquiring specific parcels of property for specific uses) and condemnation/eminent domain.

A Kansas City resident for 25 years, Egan has enjoyed an extensive career in urban redevelopment. At the EDC, he directs the agencies responsible for urban preservation, building preservation and job creation. Under Egan’s leadership, local businesses and individuals receive guidance and support in their efforts to build or renovate within Kansas City.

Key achievements

• Columbus Park/Guinotte III Development – Approximately 370 residential units and 15,000 square feet of retail space located just east of the City Market. Egan’s team managed the acquisition and infrastructure development of the Park, as well as assisting businesses in their relocation to the area to get the development off the ground.
• Demolition of a 650-car parking garage, freeing 26,000 square feet of land in a prime area of the city.
• Creating “urban renewal districts” (e.g. Longfellow Dutch Hill) by encouraging business owners and individuals to purchase and renovate properties, thereby improving the physical appearance of the neighborhood and creating permanence for those residences and businesses.
• Egan also serves as the Executive Director for the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Boards, which provides state and local incentives for new and expanding businesses.

Prior to joining the EDC, Egan served as President of the Rehabilitation Loan Corporation in Kansas City, a non-profit redevelopment agency that provided loans and grants to those purchasing and rehabilitating homes and multi-family buildings. Earlier in his career, Egan was Director of Community Investment at Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Iowa. He also spent seven years as a subcontractor to ICF Consulting in Fairfax, Va.

Egan’s civic involvement includes the Housing Authority of Kansas City (he served as Chairman from 2003-2009) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines’Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.

Egan earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Northeastern University in Boston, and he earned HUD certification as a Home Program Specialist-Regulations. Egan is also a former military officer, having retired in 1998 as a colonel from the U.S. Marine Corps after 30 years of active and reserve service.

When he’s not busy helping develop his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, Egan enjoys running, strength training and reading mystery novels and history books. He and his wife of 40 years have two grown children.