Episode 55: Giving Your Destination a Sense of Place, with Kal Wysokowski

In this episode, you will learn about ways to grow economic development and give a destination a sense of place that thrills residents and visitors alike.

Kal Wysokowski is president of the Canal Society of New York State, Commissioner for the New York State Canal Corporation, and Commissioner for the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.

With all of those volunteer roles, Kal still has time for her day job as Director of Grants Development at the Finger Lakes Community College. Kal was previously the Executive Director of the Fairport IDA and Office of Community and Economic Development, and prior to that, she was the director of the Fairport Village Partnership and Economic Development Program she helped to launch, which is modeled after the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s highly successful Main Street Program.

Before moving to the Rochester area, Kal was Vice President for Marketing and Development for Tompkins County Area Development in the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency in Ithaca, New York. She also worked as director of community relations and development for Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca and the Ithaca College Office of Admissions.

Kal graduated from Ithaca College’s School of Communication with a Bachelor’s Degree in Corporate Communication and earned a Master’s Degree from Binghamton University. She has been a guest lecturer at the Roy Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and a guest speaker and facilitator for the Excellence, a nonprofit leadership and management series for the Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations and PBS.

In addition, she has been a presenter at the World Canals Conference, the New York State Canal Conference, the Western New York Landmarks Societies, Preservation Workshop, Design Matters, strengthening city and village centers for the Reshaping Rochester series, served as the chairman for the New York State Canal Conference in addition to numerous business and community lectures on downtown revitalization and business development.

A transcript of this episode is available here: http://destinationontheleft.com/kal-wysokowski/