About AEDC | Find Properties | Contact Business Development

Clint O'Neal, CEcD

Executive Director

Clint O’Neal is the Executive Director at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Clint has 15 years of economic development experience and is passionate about making a difference by helping communities win economic development projects and helping companies to be successful in Arkansas.

Before Governor Sanders named Clint as Executive Director in January 2023, Clint served as the Deputy Director of Global Business at AEDC starting in 2018. In his role as deputy director, O’Neal provided leadership to several divisions within the agency, including Business Development, Existing Business, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development, Marketing, Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise, Film, and Military Affairs. As executive director, he will continue to oversee these divisions, alongside the other functions of the agency, such as community resources, finance, science and technology, and legislative affairs. 

Before rejoining AEDC in 2018, Clint served as Vice President of Business Recruitment for the Missouri Partnership, the state’s principal business recruitment and marketing organization. Prior to that position, he was a Project Manager at AEDC.

Clint is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma and is a Certified Economic Developer through the International Economic Development Council. He holds a Master’s degree in Community and Economic Development from the University of Central Arkansas.  

Clint and his wife, Heather, live in Conway with their four children, Chloe, Ellie, Ava and Caleb.