Tessa Failor
DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

I find joy in turning my clients into friends, getting to know them and helping them find workable solutions. Carlisle is always generous with advisory support, so counties and clients welcome us to the table.

Education
Bachelor of Science Marketing and Business Administration
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina

Professional Affiliations
National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC)
South Carolina Economic Development Association (SCEDA)
Southern Carolina Regional Development Alliance
South Carolina Agribusiness Council
Advance Dorchester
Central SC Committee of 100
Chester Development Association, Board Member
Florence County Progress
Marion County Progress
Oconee Economic Alliance
American Heart Association / Hard Hats with Heart, Executive
Leadership Team

Seldom do even the most successful professionals actively look forward to going to work each day. Tessa Failor is the exception – a very active exception, because just about everything about Tessa is active, engaged and enthusiastic.

The secret of her success, she says, is that she never misses an opportunity to meet and make new friends. She’s a connector.

A Columbia native and the youngest of four, Tessa grew up in Catholic schools, studying piano and competing at tennis, and earning a scholarship to the University of South Carolina to study marketing and business administration, a field she now believes she was born for. Upon graduation, an adventurous aunt encouraged her to break away, move away, and look to the future. She landed in Manhattan, sharing a tiny apartment with roommates and working in business development for an IT consulting company.

The post-college city life suited her: a challenging job, the constant buzz – she even met her husband on a night out in the East Village. About five years in, though, the rat race was becoming a grind for them both. Coming back south seemed like the right move.

Tessa quickly spotted a suitable opportunity. In a business-friendly state, she joined the agency charged with boosting South Carolina’s economy by recruiting world-class companies, helping them identify suitable operational sites and build supplier networks, and packaging incentives that benefit each business as well as its host county. She calls her time there “a great experience” that gave her a deeper understanding of customer priorities and facility requirements and allowed her to become part of a diverse network of economic development professionals.

When she heard Carlisle Associates was in the market for a business development director, she knew she was ready. From day one, she’s found the job a perfect fit.

What does Tessa bring to the table? Relevant experience, contagious enthusiasm, and an eagerness to validate Carlisle’s reputation for consistently delivering quality, cost-effective work, on schedule, using transparent, collaborative processes. Meeting and talking with people, working together to develop strategies and discover solutions, is just the kind of connection Tessa thrives on.

Clients recognize that Tessa means business. The proof is in each successful project.