Linda Highsmith-Poole is vice president of development finance for the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. Highsmith-Poole joined the port authority in 1993 as deputy director of economic development.

She is responsible for the port authority’s development financing initiatives, which include fixed-rate financing, off-balance sheet financing and leasing, and infrastructure financing for residential, retail and mixed-use developments.

Under her leadership, the port authority has issued $1.1 billion in development revenue bonds to support more than $1.7 billion of expansion projects in Northeast Ohio. Additionally, she was instrumental in facilitating the land banking projects of two local development groups -- MidTown Cleveland and Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp.

Highsmith-Poole previously was director of administration and vice president of harbor operations and administration for North Coast Harbor Inc. The non-profit group was formed to take the lead in converting North Coast Harbor into an international waterfront tourist attraction. North Coast Harbor is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the Great Lakes Science Center and Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Highsmith-Poole served as assistant director of economic development for the city of Cleveland. She was instrumental in developing and implementing economic development programs that utilized more than $150 million in federal grant dollars to create jobs and promote downtown and neighborhood projects.

She was the city’s project director for Tower City Center, a $388 million mixed-use redevelopment project in downtown Cleveland. Completed in the early 1990s, the three-floor, 360 square-foot complex has retail shops, a movie theater, office space, a luxury hotel and a new transit station area.

Active in the community, Highsmith-Poole serves on the Cleveland State University’s Visiting Committee of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Studies. She serves on the Clear Channel Cleveland Local Advisory Board, as well as the boards of Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services and Village Capital Corp., a subsidiary of Neighborhood Progress Inc.

She is a member of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s Cleveland & Northeast Ohio Advisory Regional Committee and serves on the Cleveland Neighborhood Development Corporation’s Industrial Committee. Highsmith-Poole also was a member of the FBI Cleveland Division Academy Class of 2002.

Highsmith-Poole earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cleveland State University and a master’s in business administration from Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. She is certified as an economic development finance professional by the National Development Council.

For her achievements, Highsmith-Poole has been honored with a Certificate of Recognition from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and a Distinguished Award from the Cleveland Citywide Development Corporation.