DCEDC Staff

Melissa Amedeo

Executive Director, DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation
Administrator, DeKalb County Enterprise Zone

E-mail: amedeo@dcedc.org
Phone: 815-895-2711 ext. 203 (Office)  
Cellular:  630-258-7389

Melissa Amedeo, an accomplished business development, marketing, public relations, and data analytics trailblazer, has joined DCEDC as our Executive Director.

In her previous role, Melissa served as Senior Vice President at DCC Marketing of Chicago, Melissa worked with DCEDC and business, community, and institutional stakeholders throughout DeKalb County to create and deploy the Opportunity Unbound Branding Plan. Embracing this progressive and highly collaborate marketing strategy has extended DCEDC’s role from business development organization to a talent attraction, promoting all DeKalb County has to offer professionals, families, students, and visitors, as well as businesses and institutions.

Background

Melissa started her career at Sears, Roebuck and Co. where she spent 12 years honing business skills from field sales to department manager, planning, and logistics, buying and marketing. She has over 30 years’ experience in integrated marketing, business development and strategy. Her Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communication is from Indiana University Northwest.

Melissa has worked with Fortune 500 brands such as Keebler, Kellogg, DelMonte, Butterball, Milk-Bone, Pup-Peroni, and Silk Soy Milk. As a goal-driven senior executive with extensive experience in leading and expanding business operations, building robust client relationships, and mentoring cross-functional teams she brings a unique skillset to DCEDC. Her career has been marked by a consistent ability to convey complex information effectively, build consensus, and exceed performance expectations. She has an amazingly supportive husband and three boys, all in college. Thanks to one of them she is a proud Huskie Mom.

Skills and Expertise

• Business Development: Adept at identifying and securing new business opportunities, creating, and nurturing pipelines, and driving revenue growth. Proven ability to develop strategic partnerships and manage complex sales processes to achieve substantial contract value and market expansion.
• Marketing/PR: Expertise in brand strategy, integrated marketing, and PR messaging.
• Data Analytics: Proficient in data insights analytics and database strategy.
• Leadership: Skilled in team management, client relations, and mentoring.

Andrea Van Drew

Economic Development Specialist

Phone: 815-895-2711 ext. 204 (Office)  
E-mail: avandrew@dcedc.org

Andrea (“Ande”) previously worked as the Graduate Research Assistant for DCEDC from 2015-2017 while completing her M.S. in Geography at Northern Illinois University. She rejoined the DCEDC team part-time as Research and Enterprise Zone Assistant in 2023, but now serves in a full-time role as Economic Development Specialist. As Economic Development Specialist, she develops and executes strategies to retain local businesses, attract new investments, and stimulate overall economic development and growth. She works closely with the DCEDC Executive Director and community organizations, businesses, and stakeholders to strengthen DeKalb County’s economic base through her education and experience in research design, data collection and analysis, as well as Geographic Information Systems. Ande assists in event and project management and administration of the DeKalb County Enterprise Zone.

Ande was born and raised in rural northwestern Illinois but has been a resident of DeKalb for almost 15 years. She completed a B.A. in History Education at Western Illinois University in 2008 and her M.S. in Economic Geography in 2017. Ande also completed 3 years of Ph.D. coursework in Geography before leaving to pursue private sector work. Her geography studies focused on economic and community development, socioecological systems, spatial analysis, GIS, and research design. As a Graduate Research Assistant for DCEDC, she completed the 2016 Illinois Basic Economic Development Course, a 32 credit hour nationally-recognized training program for professionals new to the economic development field. She is currently part of the 2024-2025 DeKalb Leadership Academy Cohort, a program organized by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to working with DCEDC, Ande is a part-time Geography Instructor for Kishwaukee College and Rockford University. She previously taught in the Illinois public school system for several years as a licensed educator in the State of Illinois with endorsements in Social Studies and Special Education.

She is a mother to two children, Sam and Evelyn. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, being outdoors, building Lego sets, and trains in mixed martial arts.