Vienna's First Economic Development Director To Leave For New Role

VIENNA, VA — Natalie Guilmeus, who has served as Vienna's first economic development director since 2019, will step down.

Guilmeus will continue the economic development director role in Vienna through Oct. 25. She will then work as deputy director for the Virginia Beach Economic Development Department. Gilmeus shared her upcoming departure during a ribbon cutting for Cafe de Vienna last week.

"It’s been an incredible opportunity to serve in this special community," said Guilmeus. "It was challenging establishing the department just as the pandemic was beginning but working with my colleagues, the Town Business Liaison Committee, the Vienna Business Association, local non-profit organizations and state and federal resources, we were able to creatively find ways to support our local businesses through that very difficult time."

Before leading Vienna's economic development efforts, Guilmeus was a business development manager in Arlington County and was part of the teams that helped land Amazon's second headquarters. In 2019, Guilmeus was tasked with leading Vienna's economic development department, promoting the town as a good place for businesses and promoting the town's economic prosperity. Not long after starting the role in late 2019, Guilmeus was faced with businesses struggling during COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. The director got an agreement between the town and Fairfax County to distribute $2.7 million in relief grants to local businesses during the pandemic and worked with the Vienna Town Council and the Planning and Zoning Department for emergency outdoor dining measures.

Guilmeus is credited with helping create the award-winning Explore Vienna VA to promote the town and Vienna Restaurant Week to promote the town's restaurants. The economic development department received two Excellence in Economic Development Awards from the International Economic Development Council — a gold award for the restaurant week and bronze for the Explore Vienna VA website.

Other accomplishments cited by the town are an "Ingnite" virtual education series to help business owners and entrepreneur create a stable operational framework, the Vienna in Bloom initiative to beautify the commercial corridor, a culinary workforce certificate program to help businesses with hiring and retention, and collaborative relationships with the Vienna Business Association, the Fairfax County government and the Town Business Liaison Committee.

"What I have tried to do in my role from the beginning is to make sure the business community felt loved, supported, and cared for, and understood the resources available to help them thrive," said Guilmeus.

The town will search for a new economic development director and continue the work started by Guilmeus.