Vice President of Commercial Operations, Scout Motors Inc.

Cody Thacker is the vice president of commercial operations at Scout Motors Inc., a manufacturer of all-electric trucks and SUVs that is currently constructing its first production facility in Blythewood, South Carolina. Scout Motors is developing a proprietary electric vehicle platform that delivers both off-road performance and family-hauling capabilities, staying true to the utility and orientation of the iconic Scout brand that became synonymous with adventure in the ’60s and ’70s. As the leader of commercial operations at Scout Motors, Thacker is responsible for sales and marketing, service and parts, retail strategy and operations, digital products and customer experience.

Prior to joining Scout Motors in 2022, Thacker served as the head of parts business at Porsche Cars North America where he managed national parts sales, demand planning, warehousing and logistics, and technical support desks.

For the three years prior to joining Porsche, from 2017 to 2020, Thacker was the head of electrification at Audi of America, leading a team that readied the organization for electric vehicle launches and other emerging automotive trends. In this role, he identified technology and EV ecosystem partners for commercial engagement and developed future business models and mobility offers for deployment within the Audi network. Thacker also worked in various franchising and dealer development roles while at Audi of America.

Before entering the automotive industry, Thacker served as a judge advocate and company commander in the U.S. Marine Corps.  

Thacker received a BBA in Risk Management and Insurance from the Terry College of Business in 2001 and a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2005. Thacker is a native of Alpharetta, Georgia, and lives in Fayetteville, Georgia, with his wife and three young children.

Director of Economic Research, Indeed, Inc.

Laura Ullrich is director of economic research in North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab. Prior to joining Indeed, Ullrich served as a senior regional economist and senior manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, primarily focused on research related to higher education and workforce dynamics. For more than a decade, Ullrich was an economics professor and associate dean for undergraduate programs at Winthrop University. Her research interests include higher education, community college policy, labor participation and the economic impact of local development. She holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Georgia and a master's and doctorate in economics from the University of Tennessee.

Research Economist, University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business

Joseph C. Von Nessen, ’09 Ph.D. economics, is a research economist in the Division of Research at the Darla Moore School of Business where he specializes in regional economics, regional economic forecasting and housing economics. He regularly conducts a wide variety of economic impact analyses, feasibility studies and independent market research projects for clients in both the private and public sector.

Von Nessen engages in industry-level and regional economic forecasting for organizations at the state, national and international level. He has served as lead researcher on projects with clients as diverse as Sonoco, BlueCross BlueShield, Michelin, Boeing and the Savannah River National Lab, among others. He has also been the recipient of many grants from both local and national sources, including the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Von Nessen is also responsible for the preparation and presentation of the University of South Carolina's annual statewide economic forecast. He serves on the advisory committee of the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors and is regularly invited to brief the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond on economic conditions in South Carolina. He frequently appears on programs at national conventions, including the International Builders Show, the 21st Century Building Expo and the North American Regional Science Council and its subsidiaries.

In addition, Von Nessen specializes in housing economics and residential real estate and provides economic and marketing research and consulting services to builders, developers and other businesses in the housing industry on a regular basis. His recent academic research has focused on the application of hedonic house price modeling to the housing industry. He is a member of the National Association of Home Builders and is actively involved with the local branches of the Home Builders Association and the Association of REALTORS throughout South Carolina.

Von Nessen is a frequent speaker for business and government leaders throughout the southeast, providing information and consultation about business, housing markets and local economies. He also makes frequent media appearances to discuss various local economic topics of interest.

Division of Research Director and Professor of Economics, University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business

Woodward earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin in 1986. He joined the University of South Carolina faculty in 1987.

Woodward’s primary research interests are regional economics, firm location, urban and industrial clustering, and foreign direct investment. He is co-author of a book on foreign direct investment in the United States, “The New Competitors,” ranked as one of the “top ten business and economics books” by Business Week and listed by Fortune as one of the books “CEOs are reading." He has published widely in academic journals, including the Journal of Urban Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, Regional Science and Urban Economics, the Journal of Economic Geography, and the Review of Economics and Statistics.

His recently published papers have investigated local area labor matching and knowledge spillovers. Woodward also has ongoing research comparing regional economic cluster development across the world. He has ongoing research investigating foreign investment and economic development in Africa.

Over his career, Woodward has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education and many other funding agencies. He has testified before local, state and national government committees and has presented his research at many conferences around the world, including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He has often appeared in the media discussing economic development and related topics.

Woodward served as the 2013 president of the North American Regional Science Council. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Regional Science and the Review of Regional Studies. From 2010 to 2011, he was president of the Southern Regional Science Association and was honored to be named as a fellow of the association in 2016.