Commissioner
David Lehman, Commissioner & Governor’s Senior Economic Advisor
David Lehman serves as the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), the state agency that oversees a wide range of programs promoting business growth, brownfield redevelopment, the arts, historic preservation and tourism.
David also serves as the Governor’s Senior Economic Advisor. He is hard at work at creating an innovative public-private partnership between DECD and AdvanceCT (formerly CERC) that will provide a new economic development delivery model for our state.
David’s business development priorities include helping build our urban centers into engines of growth, furthering the state’s innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems, and strengthening the state’s workforce pipelines.
Prior to joining DECD, David worked in the financial services industry. Most recently he was Global Head of Real Estate Finance for the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, where he worked for 15 years.
Glendowlyn Thames, Deputy Commissioner
Glendowlyn Thames joined the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) in June of 2019. As deputy commissioner, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, she has a wide range of oversight responsibilities and provides strategic direction for business development and workforce initiatives.
Previously, Mrs. Thames served as Founding executive director of CTNext, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Connecticut Innovations. There she managed an array of strategic economic development programs focused on fostering entrepreneurship, startup and growth-stage businesses while cultivating a robust innovation ecosystem on behalf of the State of Connecticut.
Her multi-faceted experience with executive management of organizations includes over 15 years as a Business, government, and non-profit leader managing high-priority projects and major initiatives.
Previously at Connecticut Innovations, Mrs. Thames held several leadership positions and oversaw vital innovation programs that support the state’s small technology businesses and encourage innovation, collaboration and commercialization.
Prior to coming to CI, she served as special assistant to the superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, and prior to that, she was director of constituent services for the City of Hartford, where she managed citizen relations and worked on community and economic development projects.
Mrs. Thames holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Hofstra University and a master’s in public policy studies and law from Trinity College.