The news that Amazon had reversed its decision to create a technology campus in Long Island City with 25,000 jobs ripped through the national media and economic development world last week. And it the wake of this extraordinary announcement, The Project Podcast had the good fortune to land an exclusive interview with Mike Grella, Amazon’s Director of Economic Development for the past seven years. Mike departed Amazon last week (completely unrelated to the HQ2 news) to launch his own consultancy. From his unique vantage point, he shared his thoughts on the future of mega-deals, incentives and site selection searches.

The Project co-host Andy Levine caught up with Mike by telephone while he was on a Caribbean cruise with his wife and family.