Christa Tinsley Spaht

Christa Tinsley Spaht brings to Market Street Services her knowledge of strategic planning, program evaluation, and community organizing. Ms. Spaht began at Market Street as a Graduate Research Assistant, assisting the project teams for a Consensus Community Strategy in Little Rock, Arkansas; a Workforce and Education Plan in Cabarrus and Rowan Counties, North Carolina; and an Economic Blueprint Strategy in Coachella Valley, California.  She is currently managing strategic planning processes for the three-state Joplin, Missouri region and Rome, Georgia.

As a Project Manager, she led the development of the Advance Now economic development strategy for  the eight-county Madison, Wisconsin region and in 2011; an update for Montgomery, Alabama’s regional economic development strategy, Imagine a Greater Montgomery II; a Target Cluster Analysis for the Greater Richmond Partnership in Virginia; an Organizational Analysis and Implementation Plan for the Development Authority of DeKalb County, Georgia; and a Five-Year Action Agenda for the Regional Economic Development Partnership based in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Ms. Spaht also assisted with a midterm update for Austin, Texas’ five-year Opportunity Austin 2.0, and as a Project Associate, she worked on a Vision Plan for Mandan, North Dakota; economic development strategies in San Marcos, Texas and Sioux Falls, South Dakota; organizational analyses for Conway, Arkansas and Longview, Texas; an Action Plan update for Hopkinsville-Christian County, Kentucky; and a Strategic Action Plan for Springfield, Missouri.

Previously, Ms. Spaht worked in the non-profit sector where she managed the volunteer program and coordinated performance and quality improvement for a large social services organization, guiding the quality assurance activities through both national accreditation standards and agency-wide strategic planning. She also has experience in fine arts grant writing and development at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens.  

Ms. Spaht has a Master of Public Administration with a specialization in planning and economic development from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. While a graduate student, she performed research for Dr. Yoon Jik Cho for forthcoming publications on aging trends in state government workforce and trustworthiness in federal agencies. Ms. Spaht also served as a research assistant to the Program for Rehabilitation Leadership at the Andrew Young School’s Public Performance and Management Group, evaluating effective practices in vocational rehabilitation technical assistance and school-to-work transitional programs for youth with disabilities. Ms. Spaht completed the IEDC Basic Economic Development Course in 2010. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Georgia.