Henrico EDA head to join Richmond consulting firm

After announcing in August 2025 that he would step away from the Henrico Economic Development Authority, Anthony Romanello won’t be out of work for long. He is leaving the EDA this month but will begin a new role with a Richmond-based consulting firm on Feb. 18.

S.I.R., a research-based strategic consultancy founded in 1964, on Thursday announced that it has tapped Romanello to join the firm as a managing partner. In his new role, Romanello will help cities, counties and regions use research to develop strategies and act on them. He plans to operate with the philosophy that economic growth and community development are designed to support one another.

Romanello, who has more than three decades of senior public sector leadership experience, has served as executive director of the Henrico EDA since 2019, after joining the county in 2016 as deputy county manager. During his tenure, Henrico landed major corporate headquarters relocations, including Fortune 1000 IT company ASGN in 2020 and Fortune 500 health care solutions company Owens & Minor’s 2024 move from Hanover County. Cari M. Tretina succeeds Romanello as executive director of the Henrico EDA.

But in August 2025, he submitted a resignation letter to the EDA’s board, with his final day on the job being Jan. 16. He said after almost 34 years in local government work, he wanted to find different ways he could contribute. S.I.R. offered the perfect solution.

“They’re really focused on the intersection of community and economic development and helping localities and nonprofits,” Romanello said. “And I’ve done that from the government side for a long time. And the opportunity to do it as a partner is really exciting.”

S.I.R. owner and CEO John W. Martin said when he first saw the news about Romanello departing from Henrico, he considered it a loss for the county.  It was unknown what Romanello would be doing next, so Martin reached out to him to meet over a meal and discuss where he was headed. Martin said that while Romanello shared that he was really going to take some time to write and keep teaching at Virginia Tech and maybe do some consulting, he didn’t have definitive plans.

“And I said, ‘Well, let me, let me see if I can change that. I think it would be awesome for you to be part of the S.I.R. team,’” Martin recalled. “And we started talking about what that would look like and what it would mean, and, more importantly, our philosophical alignment on how we think economic development works. And so, as we talked about the space where economic development and community development complement one another, we both started getting excited and just saying, ‘You know, it’s exactly what we are doing at S.I.R.’”

After a few months of discussion, the two agreed that Romanello becoming involved with S.I.R. made “a lot of sense.”

“Anthony is going to contribute on so many levels to our future and in our clients’ success,” Martin said. “You know, he has an incredibly sharp mind and strategic instincts. … But he also has this incredible experience. It’s rare that he knows how economic and community development work in progress and practice.”

Romanello has served Virginia local governments since 1992, with previous leadership roles including assistant to the city manager in Richmond, town manager of West Point, county administrator and deputy county administrator of Stafford County and deputy county manager of Henrico.

In a statement, Rachel Yost, S.I.R. managing partner, said Romanello’s experience in business retention and expansion, regional collaboration, digital infrastructure and data center development “directly align with the increasingly complex world our clients are operating in — and the decisions they are asking us to help inform and support.”

Romanello has a bachelor’s degree in history and American government from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in public administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a credentialed manager through the International City/County Management Association and a graduate of executive leadership programs at Harvard Kennedy School and U.Va. Romanello is also an adjunct instructor with Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy.

Headquartered in Richmond, S.I.R. provides market research, strategic planning and economic and community development consulting for government agencies, nonprofit and private clients across the United States, although its work is predominantly focused in Virginia and North Carolina.