In the four years Miller Girvin has worked at the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, she’s found that sometimes just showing off the state is the best strategy.

Whether it’s luring venture capitalists to invest in homegrown companies, or transporting college graduates to state landmarks in hopes of keeping them here after graduation, Alabama is its own best advertising, she feels.

“We do better when we get them here in person,” Girvin said.

Since Jan. 1, Girvin has been taking charge as EDPA’s new president. She was named to the job to replace the retiring Greg Barker.

EDPA is a private nonprofit focused on economic growth in Alabama. It is supported by more than 60 corporate entities and focuses on economic development research, workforce development, talent retention, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Those efforts can take many forms, such as the long-running Alabama Launchpad program that has helped entrepreneurs get business concepts through the first stages of gestation. Girvin said she’s been aware all of her professional life of EDPA’s work.

“I’m incredibly honored to have this position,” she said.

A Birmingham native, Girvin graduated from Princeton and then went to work in foreign affairs in the office of then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. Hastert left the job in 2007 after Democrats retook control of the House, so Girvin needed a job. A chance conversation with a Capitol Hill staffer got her a lobbying job with the globe-trotting singer and frontman of the pop group U2, Bono.

At their first meeting, she called him “Mr. Bono.” She went on to watch as he lobbied senators and congressmen for money for projects such as the global fights against tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS. He “knew his stuff,” she said.

“He wears his (sun)glasses all the time,” she said. “They may have a prescription in them. When he would get in those meetings with congressmen, he would have the glasses on for the first few minutes. Then he would take them off and he would stare deep into those folks’ souls. The minute he took the glasses off, he went from being a rock star to an advocate.”

When her husband Josh joined a start-up in Birmingham in 2011, she moved back to Birmingham. In 2017, she was named CEO of the Alabama Capital Network.

Girvin joined EDPA in 2021, emphasizing innovation and entrepreneurial growth across Alabama. She is also a member of Gov. Kay Ivey’s Innovate Alabama Commission.

EDPA is one of several groups operating in Alabama with a focus on economic development, but its reach is considerable. For example, nearly two years ago, the organization expanded the Alabama Business Intelligence Center, a clearinghouse of data used to attract and retain business.

Girvin said AL BI Center is doing research in four sectors identified for growth in the state – mobility, defense, life science and forestry.

“It helps generate business attraction leads,” she said. “I’m excited to really give the business intelligence center an expanded role.”

EDPA was one of the entities involved in last month’s Founder Fest in Birmingham, which featured the state’s tech accelerators, including companies affiliated with Techstars, gener8tor and Alabama Launchpad.

But EDPA also works with the Alabama Growth Alliance, another public-private group created by Gov. Ivey last year to coordinate development statewide.

Girvin said she thinks there is more opportunity to collaborate among the many groups doing this work.

“We’re all friends, we all get along, we all collaborate very well,” she said. “I do think there is room for improvement and to remove any duplication of efforts. Whether it’s fundraising from all the same corporate partners, overlap in program focal points, we’re all very much in sync, but the Alabama Growth Alliance formalizes that. We’ve all been rowing in the same direction, but this now puts us all in the same boat.”