Chief Operating Officer and Executive Deputy Commissioner at
Empire State Development (ESD)
Albany, NY, United States
Kevin Younis is Chief Operating Officer and Executive Deputy Commissioner at Empire State Development (ESD), New York’s economic development agency. Younis is extensively involved in promoting the state’s long-term economic development objectives, with a focus on business development involving corporate retention, expansion, and relocation, while working to ensure that economic growth efforts benefit all New Yorkers.
Kevin has nearly three decades of experience in the public sector, focused primarily on economic development policy and operations, and has been with ESD since 2007. For more than seven years, he has led the state’s efforts to support the semiconductor ecosystem and position New York at the forefront of the American semiconductor comeback.
Among his many accomplishments, Kevin was instrumental in the creation and passage of the nation’s most ambitious semiconductor incentive program, the $10 billion Green CHIPS Act, as well as the establishment of the Governor’s Office of Semiconductor Expansion, Management, and Integration (GO-SEMI), the first and only state-level office solely dedicated to supporting the growth of the semiconductor industry. Kevin led state, local, and federal efforts that successfully attracted Micron Technology’s investment of up to $100 billion to build the nation’s largest chip fab facilities in Central New York - the largest economic development project in US history. The New York State Economic Development Council named Kevin the 2023 “Economic Developer of the Year” for his leadership in bringing Micron to New York State.
He also directed efforts to establish NY CREATES, the entity that operates the state’s world-leading R&D innovation hub and was the driving force behind the $10 billion High NA Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Center at NY CREATES’ Albany NanoTech Complex, which will be the first and only publicly-owned center of its kind in North America. Kevin recently co-led a delegation of government and corporate leaders from New York on an economic development mission to East Asia to promote and strengthen the state’s position as a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing and production.
Prior to his government service, Younis taught English in Taiwan and worked with a youth public service program in Syracuse. He holds a certificate from Harvard University, an MPA from the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, and earned his bachelor’s degree from SUNY Cortland.
A native of Syracuse and lifelong New Yorker, Younis lives in Albany with his wife Erin and daughter Eleanor.
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From Rust Belt to Tech Hub: How Upstate New York Came to Lead America’s Semiconductor Comeback
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
9:15am – 9:40am PDT