Carlton Schwab, president and chief executive officer of the Texas Economic Development Council, will speak on the importance and future of economic development in the state during the forum.
On Nov. 6, local voters will be asked to decide whether to change EDC's mandate from Type A, which finances only economic development projects, to Type B, which will also help fund community improvement projects.
Schwab has been head of the TEDC, which advocates for economic development policy, since 1999. Prior to that, he was director of development at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
Earlier in his career, he was active in local economic development efforts, having serviced as vice president of the Lubbock Board of City Development from 1986 to 1989.
He holds a master's degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT-Austin and a bachelor's degree from Austin College in Sherman.
The forum is being sponsored by Big Spring Citizens for Jobs and Growth, a group which supports maintaining EDC as a Type A corporation.