How do you actually build the future of a region when the biggest projects require decades of planning, political alignment, and infrastructure that cannot be improvised? In today’s environment, that is the real question facing economic development.

Bo Kemp is one of the leaders working at that intersection. As CEO of the Southland Development Authority, he focuses on positioning Chicago’s Southland for large-scale investment by aligning municipalities, capital, and the long-term infrastructure needed to compete for major projects.

In this conversation, Kemp explains why demand is accelerating for next-generation industrial uses like data centers, and why the limiting factor is powered land with the utilities, infrastructure, and workforce needed to operate at scale.

He also outlines the Southland’s advantage through access to two electrical grids, including PJM, and why that matters as power becomes a deciding factor in where development can happen.