Mariana Almanza-Cook Joins Economic Development Partnership Team

THE WOODLANDS, TX -- The Woodlands Area Economic Development Partnership (EDP) recently hired a new Director.


Mariana Almanza-Cook will serve in the role of Director of Business Retention and Expansion for the organization beginning January 6, 2020. In this role she is responsible for maintaining existing relationships with businesses in the community, as well as assisting them with their employee recruitment and development, expansion of space as needed,
and providing demographic/labor market profiles when appropriate.


Mariana spent the past four years with Visit The Woodlands on a mission to promote The Woodlands, Texas as a beautiful, lively, and welcoming destination recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for first-class business, convention and leisure travel. As a member of the Convention Development Team, she provided an array of services to meeting planners and helped develop convention and business travel into The Woodlands. Her favorite experiences there included attending international sales tradeshows and hosting familiarization trips for business clients.

Mariana earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas - San Antonio. Most recently, she earned a Multimedia Design Certification from Lone Star College. Prior to joining Visit The Woodlands, Mariana worked for Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council where she was tasked with membership retention and recruitment as well as community engagement.

When she’s not in the office, Mariana is likely on a new adventure. While her favorite places to explore are Key West and Hawaii, she has also recently traveled to Mexico, England and Italy. She enjoys the outdoors, resort lazy rivers and cruising around on a bike. She also loves Netflix binging with her husband Nathan, and board games with friends. They are proud of their “local Texas roots” and have resided in Magnolia since 2011.

“We’re very excited to have Mariana on board. Her depth of knowledge of our community and capabilities will complement our organization. We are confident that Mariana will proactively connect with existing businesses in our community to understand and respond to their needs, the true foundation of effective economic development.” said Gil
Staley, Chief Executive Officer.