Webinar Series | The Business of Place: Turning Local Assets into Economic Opportunity, Lessons from Fogo Island Featuring Zita Cobb

What can rural communities achieve by building on the assets they already have?

Drawing on the experience of Fogo Island, Zita Cobb will explore how communities can identify local strengths, create economic opportunities, and keep more value within their local economies. The conversation will share practical lessons for economic development leaders and communities looking to build stronger, locally driven economies.

Who is Zita Cobb?

Zita Cobb is a Canadian business leader and social entrepreneur who helped transformed her birthplace into a model for community-driven economic development. Born on Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador in 1958, her family was forced to leave when the cod fishery collapsed. After studying business in Ottawa, she became CFO of JDS Fitel, a global leader in fiber optics technology, and later moved into the role of Senior Vice President, Strategy and Integration of JDS Uniphase following a merger in 1999.

Cobb retired in 2001, returning to Fogo Island. She then founded the Canadian registered charity Shorefast in 2004 with her siblings, Alan and Anthony, with a mission to strengthen the community’s resilience through place-based economic development. In 2013, Shorefast opened Fogo Island Inn, now a Michelin Three Keys property and an internationally acclaimed example of regenerative tourism. Cobb’s pioneering work has earned her a membership in the Order of Canada, and recognition as the first social entrepreneur inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.

In December 2025, Cobb launched the Shorefast Institute for Place Based Economies, which brings together communities, governments, and markets to develop and expand place-based approaches to economic development, with the mission to create prosperity and dignity for more people and more places.
Learn more at: The Shorefast Institute – Shorefast