Christy McFarland
Director, Research
National League of Cities
Christiana McFarland is NLC's Research Director. She leads NLC's efforts to transform city-level data into information that strengthens the capacity of city leaders and that raises awareness of challenges, trends and successes in cities. Ms. McFarland has been with NLC since 2001, and prior to her post as Research Director, launched NLC’s finance and economic development program, focused on supporting municipal leadership and city and regional-level outcomes through peer exchange, best practice curation and technical assistance. Her areas of expertise include economic development, workforce development, global competitiveness and municipal finance.
Christy writes and speaks on these issues, has been widely cited in media such as CSPAN, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times, and has published in scholarly journals including Economic Development Quarterly, Public Administration Review, Canadian Journal of Regional Science, and Urban Affairs Review.
She has a BA in Political Science and Economics and Master of Public Policy from the George Washington University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in urban planning/economic development from Virginia Tech.
Recent Events and Presentations
Local Economies of the Future: How Do Cities Thrive in the Digital Age?
Please join ITIF for a discussion about how cities can prepare for the future and why local economies should focus on three key enablers of success: (1) attracting and nurturing human capital; (2) fostering collaborative, growth-oriented commercial environments; and (3) building strong foundations of technology, digital telecommunications, and physical infrastructure.
