The Downtown Reno Partnership has expanded its economic development efforts with the hire of a new economic development manager, Nathan Digangi. The Downtown Reno Partnership provides leadership and services that address downtown’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, and will allow for a cohesive approach to funding, management, marketing and maintenance of Reno’s urban core.

Digangi works alongside the Partnership’s Executive Director Alex Stettinski to bring new business and development leads to downtown Reno. They will work with existing economic development teams at EDAWN and the City of Reno to coordinate larger efforts to attract businesses and developers. They plan to work together to attract retailers for university students and apply for grant money to beautify the district, for example.

They will also engage property owners, developers, businesses and investors through direct contact, surveys, forums and roundtables to gather feedback, discover new opportunities for growth and to understand downtown challenges. Digangi and Stettinski, along with the Partnership’s Board of Directors, will collaborate with stakeholders to take on new initiatives to solve those challenges that the community identifies.

Digangi will focus on tracking the changing demographic and economic data for the downtown area. He will bring his computer science and digital background to bear in creating new ways to understand downtown’s needs and future.

“I want to discover or identify sources of data and develop a system to centralize that data,” Digangi said about his plan for his first 90 days. “I want to gather as much feedback as possible from downtown stakeholders to see how their ideas align with the current trends.”

Once the Partnership has created a database for economic information, Digangi said he hopes to make key pieces of that information available to the public.

“We’re happy to fill this role with someone already well established in our community,” Stettinski said. “Nathan’s strong interest and passion for downtown, combined with his experience in entrepreneurship, data science and community organizing are a perfect complement to the business improvement district’s team and our board’s range of involvement in downtown.”

Digangi previously ran a web services company and is an expert in digital technology and online systems. He was the lead organizer for 1 Million Cups Reno and co-organizer for Startup Weekend Reno and Ignite Reno. He is an Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada Entrepreneur Advisory Board member.

For his five years of volunteer work as an ecosystem builder in the startup community, Digangi was awarded the Startup Champion of the Year in 2019 by EDAWN and Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

“We are excited to start an economic development program and become a resource for anyone who is interested in coming to downtown Reno,” Cindy Carano, Chair of the DRP Board of Directors, said.  “Nathan will be a great asset when it comes to building databases, we need to help developers, investors and businesses, who are exploring the Reno core. Downtown Reno is open for business!”