Translating Place into Policy: A Coffee With Huw SpencerAssociate at Karp Strategies

We spoke with Huw Spencer about his transatlantic career in economic development, growing New York State’s advanced manufacturing sector, and his love of Manchester City football.

Huw is an Senior Associate at Karp Strategies. He brings extensive government experience, having worked across workforce development, decarbonization, and community economic development in Manchester, Michigan and New York. His work focuses on designing initiatives that create good jobs, reduce regional inequalities and promote inclusive growth. 

How do you like your coffee?

Australian style, flat white.

How did your career lead you to joining Karp Strategies?

I've always had an interest in place. I studied languages at university, which got me interested in places outside of the UK, where I grew up. I graduated from university just as the Brexit referendum came about, and that got me interested in better understanding the communities that I'd grown up among in the north of England, which is a sort of postindustrial part of the UK that had undergone a lot of economic transformation over the prior 30 years. 

I worked in the mayor's office in Manchester for four years, primarily on education and workforce development, and that experience got me really interested in how we could create good jobs in communities and the role that strong economic development can play in reducing social inequities. When I came to the US for grad school, economic development was the main thing I wanted to focus on. After completing my graduate degree, I worked in Michigan supporting Governor Whitmer’s industrial decarbonization strategy. I came to New York City to work here because I was really excited about bringing my experience from outside of the US, as well as my academic experience around economic development, to a firm that's focused both on those same equity goals but also on putting theories and evidence into practice for economic development.

Part of your work at Karp Strategies focuses on growing the advanced manufacturing sector across New York State, which touches on several different areas of policy and strategy. What is the biggest challenge that comes up in this work?

The biggest challenge in advanced manufacturing is a classic chicken and egg problem. These sectors are often incredibly exciting, and can create very good jobs with meaningful progression opportunities and high wages. But there are also long-standing challenges around how to pair the workforce to jobs that don’t necessarily exist yet. You have to design 10, 15, or even 20-year initiatives with a sufficient amount of foresight so that you have a workforce ready to benefit when the jobs do come online.

You also need to have both private sector and public sector partners in sync so that the inclusive economic benefits of massive investments in growing a new sector are realized. That coordination challenge is something that governments are working through right now, and it’s one that I've certainly enjoyed working on in our work across New York State.

One of the things that’s so compelling about this work is the need to break down siloes, whether that’s between public agencies, private sector businesses, or regions that want to prepare for new investment. Are you starting to see more opportunities for collaboration?

I think the opportunities have always been there. The question has been getting the incentives lined up in the right way, so that private and public sector partners can come to the table and  work together across different institutional setups and organizational cultures to deliver on shared goals.

Over the past five years we've also seen growing alignment between the public and private sector and between state level government and regional government. The ongoing challenge is how to translate those commitments into local economic benefits. That’s where the rubber hits the road and where close ongoing communications, really good governance structures, and very collaborative, transparent work between all of those actors is really important.

This is one place where we really help our clients deliver. We’re able to create space and communication between different partners so the necessary transparency and collaboration is possible.

You’ve worked on place-based industrial economic development policies at the local and state level in places from Manchester to Michigan. Are there common experiences you’ve noticed or lessons learned that you’re applying in New York?

I was walking around a city in upstate New York just last month and sent some pictures to some friends back home and they said, "Gosh, it reminds me of Manchester." I think there's definitely a sort of shared set of experiences in post-industrial places that have seen steep decline in manufacturing and the visible legacy that you still have from those golden eras around factories and mills.

I think you can therefore look across to similar post industrial regions that have had success stories, like Pittsburgh here in the US or Manchester in the UK. There’s a growing understanding among economists and practitioners of the importance of shared governance and shared long-term vision. These places are also getting the basics right around transportation infrastructure and education and understanding regional strengths — all things that can apply across states where we work. But the real joy of the work is that every place is unique. It has its own fascinating characteristics that must be absolutely at the heart of any economic development strategy if it's going to be successful. 

What is the most important thing about your role as a Project Manager/Senior Associate at Karp Strategies, especially one that might not be obvious?

One of the most important things we do as PMs is act as translators. That can mean translating a complex work plan into a clear and legible mission for delivering a project; translating the latest evidence around what works best in workforce development into meaningful actions for our local government partners; or translating some nifty bit of data analysis into an engaging story. We’re at our best when shifting between different worlds and ensuring that all of the different stakeholders that make a project successful are on the same page.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I’m still relatively new to New York City, so I’m making the most of exploring the city whenever I get the opportunity. I’ve been attending talks, checking out small gardens all over the city, and following up on food recommendations. I’m also a keen hobbyist and love to fail gracefully at climbing bouldering walls or saunter even less gracefully onto a tango dancefloor. 

Fast Facts:

Last TV show I binge-watched: Match of the Day on BBC1

Restaurant I’d recommend to close friends: Chopped Parsley in Harlem 

Best concert I’ve ever experienced: Mount Kimbie at Glastonbury 2024

Book that changed me: Lazarillo de Tormes was the book that convinced me to study Spanish Lit in university

Favorite course in graduate school: Urban Economic Policy with Gordon Hanson

Movies I’d pay to see again and again: The Great Beauty

My heroes are: Vincent Kompany