Ashley Barfield

Dr. Ashley Barfield is the Director of Marketing Research for the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), where she previously served as the Director of Tourism Research for nearly five years. At GDEcD, she leads a team who uses public and proprietary datasets, analytics, surveys, studies, and more to optimize the Department’s work and to monitor the pulse of multiple industries in the state of Georgia. Ashley holds four degrees (two bachelor’s, one master’s, and one Ph.D.) from the University of Georgia’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. She joined the GDEcD team in 2018 after completing her graduate work in applied economics and working as an Analyst for Luckie & Company. She has four cats and a lifelong love of the great outdoors.