Founder and CEO
Crystal Morphis is Creative EDC’s bright idea generator. She started the firm in 2012 and built it to become the “go-to” economic development consulting firm. The entrepreneurial firm has launched four proprietary programs and has a unique commitment to pay-it-forward through several nonprofit initiatives.
Crystal’s experience is as a practitioner and consultant. She has expertise in strategic planning, product development, organizational development, economic impact studies, existing business retention and expansion programs, and site selection. Crystal has consulted across the Southeast U.S. with companies and EDOs. The majority of Creative EDC’s clients are repeat customers, a testament to the firm’s quality of work and customer service.
Examples of the firm’s entrepreneurial culture can be found in its four proprietary programs. In 2013, Creative EDC launched a web-based site assessment tool, www.CreativeSiteAssessment.com. It helps economic developers assess potential business development sites through an independent ranking and prioritization system. In 2015, the firm purchased and re-launced the nationally recognized Certified Entrepreneurial Community® program from AdvantgeWest. In 2017, we launched the Certified Industrial Buildings Program. The first back office for economic developers, C-BOSS was launched in 2018.
Crystal was a managing partner in Sanford Holshouser Economic Development Consulting for 10 years. While with Sanford Holshouser, she was involved in the firm’s economic development and site location consulting practice. Prior to joining Sanford Holshouser, Crystal served as the president, and previously vice president, of Surry County Economic Development Partnership, NC.
Crystal earned a Bachelor of Arts, with a major in economics, from Salem College and a Master of Science, major in economics, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In 2005, Crystal earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer (CEcD). Crystal is a regular instructor at the IEDC-accredited Basic Economic Development Courses at UNC-Chapel Hill and Georgia Tech. She has been a North Carolina licensed broker since 2000 and an LEED Green Associate since 2013. Crystal has authored articles for IEDC’s Economic Development Journal and Community Development and is a sought-after speaker on a wide range of economic development topics.
More about Crystal:
- What is your favorite place to travel? – National Parks in the Western U.S.
- When you were in kindergarten, what did you want to grow up to be? – Dental Hygienist. Now I think it would be yucky to put my hands in people’s mouths.
- Name three things in your refrigerator right now. – Quinoa salad, avocados, local craft IPA.
- What was the first concert you went to? – Motley Crue, Dr. Feelgood Tour, 1990. It was awesome!
- What excites you about your work? – Thinking about a complex issue, innovating a solution, and seeing that solution make a difference in a community.