Economic Development 2024: BUDDY RIZER

Loudoun County has landed approximately $8 billion in new commercial investment for fiscal year 2024, according to the county’s economic development department. This year, construction began on the $3 billion Rivana at Innovation Station project, a 6.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development.

Rizer has headed Loudoun’s economic development for 17 years and is best known for helping build the county’s Ashburn area into one of the top data centers in the world. 

After his first career as a radio DJ, Rizer says he reinvented himself as an economic developer. He serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council board and the GO Virginia Region 7 Council, and is an ex-officio member of the Washington Airports Task Force board.

Rizer earned his bachelor’s degree from Towson University and expects to finish his MBA with a concentration in economics at Longwood University in the fall.

WHAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT ME: I am the proud owner of over 10,000 vinyl albums of all genres, but mostly rock albums, including original pressings from Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones and Frank Sinatra.

IF I HAD A TIME MACHINE, I’D MEET: Benjamin Franklin