National Economic Development & Resilience

Where complexity becomes clarity — and clarity becomes action.

Sagax Associates brings 25+ years of inside knowledge, national reach, and cross-sector fluency to the economic challenges that matter most — from business attraction and workforce strategy to disaster recovery and innovation ecosystems.

25+
Years Cross-Sector Expertise
10+
Federally Declared Disasters Served
$150M+
Funding Secured for Clients
Kirsten McGregor, CRE — Founder & Principal, Sagax Associates
Kirsten McGregor, CRE
Founder & Principal
linkedin.com/in/economicrecovery instagram.com/economicresilience
CRE Designation Harvard AI Certified UPenn MCP EY Vetted Subcontractor SBA EDWOSB UD Senior Fellow DE Leading Woman in Business

Economic development
from the inside out.

Sagax Associates is a national economic development and resilience consultancy founded in 2013 and rooted in Wilmington, Delaware. We work at the intersection of capital, policy, and community — where the most consequential economic decisions get made and where the gap between strategy and action is widest.

What sets us apart is perspective earned from the inside. Founder Kirsten McGregor has served as a federal economic development official, a state deputy director, and a senior policy advisor at the Presidential level — giving Sagax an understanding of how programs are designed, how decisions are actually made, and where opportunities are consistently overlooked.

Four generations of Delaware roots. A national network spanning federal agencies, universities, economic development organizations, private sector leaders, and community institutions across 40+ states and territories. The work has supported thousands of quality jobs created and retained — and we bring that full depth of experience to every engagement.

The Sagax mark is a maze, not a labyrinth. It has openings. It moves. Look closely and you'll find other things too. The name — SAG'-AX: perceptive, nimble, bright, discerning — was chosen with the same care. Every element of this brand has a reason.

The right clients are the ones facing real complexity.

We work with organizations navigating consequential economic challenges — where the stakes are high, the path forward is unclear, and the standard playbook does not apply.

Public Sector
State & Local Government
Economic development agencies, governors' offices, state departments of labor and commerce, county and municipal governments navigating business attraction, workforce, and strategic planning challenges.
Federal
Federal Agencies & Grantees
EDA, HUD, FEMA, SBA, and DOC grantees requiring technical assistance, compliance navigation, and strategic coordination across complex multi-stakeholder recovery and development programs.
Civic & Nonprofit
EDOs, CDFIs & Foundations
Economic development organizations, community development financial institutions, and foundations building capacity, pursuing competitive funding, and designing programs for equitable economic outcomes.
Private Sector
Companies & Investors
Corporations, developers, and investors navigating government incentive programs, site selection, public-private partnership structures, and the regulatory landscape of economic development.
Higher Education & Research
Universities & Research Institutions
University economic development programs, research parks, and innovation hubs connecting academic assets to private sector opportunity, workforce pipeline, and federal investment.
Regional
Coalitions & Multi-Stakeholder Groups
Regional partnerships, industry associations, and multi-sector coalitions requiring the convening, alignment, and strategic infrastructure to compete for transformative investment.

Turning strategic vision into measurable outcomes.

Our work spans the full arc of economic development — from the diagnostic work that identifies where a region is actually stuck, to the strategic planning, coalition-building, and federal funding navigation that moves it forward.

01
Business Attraction, Retention & Expansion
Incentive strategy, site readiness, corporate engagement, and the end-to-end relationship management that converts interest into investment and investment into jobs.
02
Federal Funding Strategy & Competitive Applications
Inside knowledge of EDA, HUD, DOL, SBA, FEMA, and DOE programs — from opportunity identification through coalition assembly, application development, and post-award compliance.
03
Workforce Development & Talent Pipeline
Sector-specific workforce gap analysis, certification program design, employer-education alignment, and the strategic coordination that connects training investments to actual hiring needs.
04
Disaster Recovery & Economic Resilience
Long-term recovery coordination, CDBG-DR strategy, small business recovery, and the resilience planning frameworks that position communities to rebuild stronger than before.
05
Innovation Ecosystem & Startup Strategy
Research commercialization, entrepreneurship infrastructure, technology sector development, and the public-private partnership structures that translate institutional assets into economic activity.
06
Actionable Strategic Planning
Plans built for action, not archives — with identified champions, timelines, measurable benchmarks, and coordination architecture that makes the whole economic development system legible and effective.

Each engagement is shaped by what the work actually requires — diagnostic, strategic, or both. We meet clients where the challenge is.

Economic Resilience Industry Diversification & Supply Chain Workforce Development, Attraction & Retention Business Attraction & Retention Small Business Support & Resources for Entrepreneurs Access to Capital & Foreign Direct Investment Research & Innovative Culture Real Estate Site Readiness & Permitting Sagax Associates 2026 All Rights Reserved
Sectors & Specializations
Blue & Coastal Economy Clean & Renewable Energy Life Sciences & Biopharma Advanced Manufacturing Financial Services & Fintech AI & Technology Ecosystems Real Estate & Site Development Rural & Small Town Economies Small Island Economies Defense & Naval Communities Food & Agriculture Tourism & Creative Economy Broadband & Digital Infrastructure Tribal Nations
$52.2M
Build Back Better award co-led as EY subcontractor — one of 21 awards from 60 national finalists, managing a 136-member coalition including the Big Three automakers, UAW, and University of Michigan.
40+
States, insular territories, tribal nations, and island economies served — from Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic to Colorado and California, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
10,000+
Nation's most elite coders competed in Open Bracket — a Delaware-based tech talent attraction and state branding campaign drawing top developers from across the country.

Flexible by design. Accountable by nature.

Every engagement is structured to fit what the work actually requires — not a predetermined model. We operate as prime contractors, subcontractors, and embedded advisors, scaling our involvement to match the complexity and timeline of each challenge.

Diagnostic
Diagnostic Sprint
A focused, time-bound engagement — typically two to four weeks — to diagnose where a project, program, or organization is actually stuck. Delivers a clear, actionable assessment with prioritized next steps and an honest account of what is and is not working.
Fixed scope · Rapid turnaround · No long-term commitment required
Embedded Leadership
Fractional & Interim
Senior-level economic development leadership on a part-time or interim basis — for organizations navigating transitions, building new programs, or needing executive capacity without a full-time hire. Available for EDOs, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.
Monthly retainer · Defined scope · Scales with organizational need
Project
Short-Term Engagements
Defined-scope project work — strategic plans, federal funding applications, workforce gap analyses, feasibility studies, coalition strategy, and program design. Structured for clarity from kickoff to deliverable, with accountability to outcomes rather than hours.
Deliverable-based · Clear milestones · Results-focused
Partnership
Prime & Subcontractor
Sagax serves as prime contractor on complex multi-stakeholder engagements, managing subcontractor teams and maintaining accountability for the full scope of work. We also partner as a specialized subcontractor to larger firms — including national consulting and accounting firms — bringing economic development depth and federal program knowledge to multi-disciplinary teams.
SBA-certified EDWOSB · EY vetted · Prime and sub experience

Inside knowledge. Independent perspective.

"The right advisor has worked inside the systems you are navigating — not just read about them."
"I've watched organizations fail from the inside out. The pattern is almost always the same — they built for stability, not resilience. But the regions I've seen thrive? They leaned into uncertainty early, brought in the right expertise, and moved before the window closed."

The federal programs that fund economic development, the state agencies that administer incentives, the compliance requirements that determine whether a project succeeds or fails years after the ribbon cutting — these systems reward people who understand them from the inside.

Sagax founder Kirsten McGregor spent years on that inside — as a federal economic development official, as a state deputy director, and as a Presidential task force advisor. That experience informs every engagement: not as a credential, but as a living understanding of where programs work, where they don't, and where the gap between official guidance and actual practice creates both risk and opportunity for clients.

Kirsten McGregor
Kirsten McGregor, CRE
Founder & Principal
25+ years inside federal, state,
and Presidential-level economic
development systems.
13+
Years in Practice Since 2013
$2B+
Funding Managed, Leveraged & Deployed
$7:1
Private Capital Leverage on Federal Grants
200+
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies Reviewed & Prepared
60+
Speaking Engagements Nationwide Since 2020
25+
National Media Appearances — Including USA Today & Forbes

As Senior Policy Advisor on President Obama's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, contributed to the federal rebuilding strategy that established new national standards for long-term economic resilience in disaster recovery — and organized the Hurricane Sandy Small Business Recovery and SBA Matchmaking Summit for 400+ businesses, resulting in 27% of federal Sandy procurement contracts awarded to small businesses. As EDA Economic Recovery Lead for New Jersey, shaped the HUD CDBG-DR Action Plan directing $130M+ to small business recovery under the inaugural FEMA National Disaster Recovery Framework.

Innovation sparks from intentional resilience.

The most consequential economic disruptions — technological transformation, climate events, global supply chain shifts, the AI economy — do not arrive on a schedule. What separates communities that emerge stronger is not the absence of disruption. It is the presence of intentional preparation, genuine relationships, and leadership willing to act before the moment of crisis.

Resilience
Not bouncing back to where you were — but using the pressure of disruption to build something more durable. Every recovery engagement we lead is designed around what comes next, not just what was lost.
Grit
Economic development is slow, complicated, and often unglamorous work. We stay in the room, follow through on commitments, and measure success in outcomes rather than deliverables.
Fortitude
The willingness to name what is not working — honestly, directly, and constructively — even when the easier path is to validate the status quo. Candor is a form of respect for our clients.
Curiosity
AI, advanced manufacturing, the trades renaissance, small island economies, blue economy infrastructure — the most interesting economic development work is happening at the edges of what is familiar. We lean into that.
On Resilience
"I've watched organizations fail from the inside out. The pattern is almost always the same — they built for stability, not resilience. But the regions I've seen thrive? They leaned into uncertainty early, brought in the right expertise, and moved before the window closed."
On AI & the Economy
Delaware's AI economy will not be built by companies moving here to deploy AI. It will be built by people who understand that the trades are coming back, that electricians and engineers for the infrastructure AI demands will be essential, and that generalists and people with humanities backgrounds are going to matter in ways the current education system has not yet prepared for. Small states and regions that can pivot deliberately — and fast — have a genuine advantage in this transition.
On Planning
A strategic plan's value lies in the process of its creation — the convening, the alignment, the shared accountability structures built along the way — and in the institutional clarity it leaves behind long after its authors have moved on. Plans must be living, action-oriented, and tied to identified champions, timelines, and benchmarks that adapt as conditions evolve. That is the difference between a plan and a roadmap.
On Cross-Sector Fluency
The most consequential economic development challenges sit at the intersection of multiple sectors, agencies, and funding streams. Energy costs, housing affordability, workforce development, and business attraction are not separate problems — they are the same problem seen from different angles. The advisor who can hold all of those angles simultaneously is the one who helps clients find the path forward.
The Sagax Resilience Framework
Classic Disruption: Response Only
Ongoing Disruption: Response Only
Ongoing Disruption: Response + Recovery & Resilience Foundation = Return to Prosperity

Let's talk about what you're actually trying to solve.

Whether you need a focused diagnostic, a long-term strategic partner, or a senior advisor who has worked inside the systems you are navigating — Sagax Associates is available. No RFP required to start the conversation.

EmailKirsten@SagaxAssociates.com
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/economicrecovery
Instagraminstagram.com/economicresilience
Based InWilmington, Delaware · Serving Clients Nationwide
Websitewww.SagaxAssociates.com