BOSTON—Construction cranes dot the landscape, neighborhoods arebeing revitalized and the tech and life sciences sectors arebringing plenty of new businesses to the city. All the more reasonto encourage further growth, says John Barros, whowas named Boston's first-ever economic developmentdirector this past February and who will give the keynotepresentation at the RealShare Boston conference happening here Tuesdaymorning.

Economic development initiatives in some cities may be attemptsto jump-start activity, any activity. Clearly, Boston doesn't facethat challenge. Yet Barros tells GlobeSt.com, “It's more criticalto do it now, so that we have the capacity to think about wherewe're going and make sure we're proactive in getting there. Itallows us to leverage this growth in a way that createsexponentially more growth. Now that we're doing well, how do wepush to do even better?”

And “doing well” is a good way to describe Boston's currenteconomic climate. “A lot of people are really attracted to thenotion of doing business in Boston,” says Barros. “Boston isbooming with a lot of opportunities. It's the right time to go outand work with new companies and the right time to work withcompanies that are growing here, so it's the right time to createthis position.”