By Rodger Morrow, Editor & Publisher, Beaver County Business
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If economic development had a patron saint, he would probably be pictured not with a halo, but with a clipboard, a sensible pair of shoes, and a practiced ability to say “no problem” while quietly removing three very real problems from the room.
That, in essence, is Lew Vilotti, president of the Beaver County Corporation for Economic Development, and one of those behind-the-scenes figures whose work is easiest to appreciate precisely because you don’t notice it happening. Roads appear. Deals close. Businesses stay put. Downtowns sprout dogs and strollers.
Vilotti has been doing this kind of work for more than 30 years, across the greater Pittsburgh region, long enough to have seen economic development morph from ribbon-cuttings and tax abatements into something more subtle and, frankly, more human. Before arriving in Beaver County in 2019, he spent many years at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, including stints as transportation program manager and planning and development director. In other words, if you’ve ever driven somewhere efficiently and not thought about why, there’s a decent chance Vilotti’s fingerprints were involved.
Ask him what sets Beaver County apart, though, and he doesn’t lead with highways or rail lines. He leads with people.
“You can’t ask someone to invest in your community unless you have a community worth investing in,” he says, repeating a line he has been using since his job interview and shows no intention of retiring. Over three decades in the business, he’s seen one constant: vibrant, diverse communities produce vibrant, diverse economies. The inverse, unfortunately, is also true.
This is not to say Vilotti ignores infrastructure. Quite the opposite. Beaver County, he notes with the calm confidence of someone who has read the maps, has two interstates—76 and 376—one of which runs straight through the county’s heart. There’s a navigable river offering port access on both shores. Two Class 1 railroads. A transit authority that punches well above its weight. And you’re never more than a short drive from a world-class international airport.
In economic development circles, this is what’s known as a strong opening hand.
But Vilotti knows better than to play the same card every time. “You need to read the room,” he says. A multinational looking for constructibility gets shown Beaver County’s track record of actually building things. A company worried about workers gets introduced to CCBC, Job Training for Beaver County, and Penn State Beaver. Transportation assets come out when they matter.
And then there’s his favorite pitch, the one he delivers with a grin: “I sell dogs and strollers.” Translation: he wants prospective investors to see people living their lives—walking the dog, pushing a stroller, lingering downtown because there’s a reason to linger. It’s hard to put that in a spreadsheet, but it’s remarkably persuasive when you’re deciding where to plant roots or capital.
At the CED, Vilotti organizes the work around three deceptively simple goals: start them, keep and grow them, and catch them. Entrepreneurship, retention and expansion, and attraction. The organization partners with the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence and the SBDC, hosts regular office hours, and offers low-interest lending alongside access to state programs.
Yet Vilotti is quick to point out that money isn’t the most valuable thing they provide.
Experience is. “Helping close the deal,” he calls it. Or, more memorably, “taking the no’s off the table.”
The results suggest that approach is working. Since July 2024 alone, projects touched by the CED represent $170 million in investment and more than 700 jobs. These range from large multinationals to mom-and-pop operations, from brownfield reclamations to downtown storefronts. Attraction, retention, entrepreneurship—it’s all happening at once, which is precisely what excites him.
“It should excite everyone that cares about Beaver County,” he says, and for once that doesn’t sound like boilerplate.
Zoom out further and the picture gets even more interesting. Beaver County’s energy legacy—once synonymous with coal and heavy industry—has entered a new chapter. The recent announcement that Meta will make a significant investment tied to Vistra’s Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station carries multiple benefits. It secures the facility’s future and its jobs. It reinforces the county’s position as an energy leader, from production to supply chain to value-added uses. And it raises Beaver County’s national profile—especially when paired with names like Shell and Mitsubishi Electric Power Products.
For Vilotti, this is not about bragging rights. It’s about continuity. The long arc of a place that has learned how to adapt without losing its identity.
Economic development, done right, rarely makes headlines. It shows up instead in quieter ways: a business that expands instead of leaving, a startup that finds its footing, a downtown where the sidewalks are busy enough to notice the dogs and strollers.
Lew Vilotti notices those things. Then he gets back to work, quietly removing another “no” from the table.
