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Economic Development Officer

Interviews

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Roland Pidgeon is a juggler.

As an economic development officer, it's his job to help promote and bring growth to three separate towns -- and that's a juggling act.

Pidgeon oversees the economic development in the region, with each of the three towns vying for the same economic opportunities -- in competition with each other and two other nearby communities.

Janet Keller is a juggler, too. As a county economic developer based in Mansfield, Ohio, her mission is to help retain and expand the existing industrial base in her community.

"We're working with our existing industries to monitor them and to find out what their needs are. If they're expanding. If they need new equipment. Maybe they've outgrown their premises and are looking for a bigger building. Or they're going to build a new building so they need some loan programs or tax abatement. There's a lot to economic development."

Indeed there is.

For Keller, being an economic developer has meant continually upgrading her skills. She's taken community and economic development courses at Ohio State University. Because her job requires her to do building and site inventory, she's taken the appropriate real estate courses. Her organization had dealings with a Japanese company, so she took a Japanese business course. "Continuing education is very important," says Keller, "and you need to know your community."

Pidgeon agrees. "The key is knowing your community well. You have to. You're not just concerned with the business aspect, you're also concerned about social services. If people don't have jobs, how can they better their lives? How can you improve the quality of life in your community? So you've got your environmental concerns and your social concerns. It's not just one component; you have to look at all these things."

Pidgeon describes community economic development as "soft service" and a process. "In real terms, the idea of things happening really quickly -- overnight -- doesn't happen. It takes time for things to develop."

From the time someone gets an idea to create a business, it takes between 48 and 57 months to come through. "Which means somewhere between four and five years for a solid business to really become created."

So how does he keep everyone focused? "Well, it's all part of the process," says Pidgeon. "We went through a workshop process -- sort of a think-tank that we call strategic planning -- where we involve the community and we go through a SWOT analysis. Our strengths, our weaknesses, our opportunities and the threats to our communities."

The SWOT analysis involved a two-day workshop where community leaders, business members and residents brainstormed the issues.

"We look seriously at what we have that's good and the things that we're not doing so well. When you get down and do these analyses you get a broad idea of what the community needs. So this involves the community and I don't just sit here and do this myself."

Selling your community is a big part of the job. Presently, Pidgeon's office is trying to attract tradespeople to his area. "We're out talking with people in the plumbing industry, pipefitters, heating industry, floor layers and carpenters. We go out and tell them, 'We've surveyed our community and we know they're looking for certain tradespeople.'"

Economic development is a team and community effort. When Janet Keller's organization began a sister county relationship with Tai Pai County, Taiwan, she didn't do it alone. Keller worked with other members of her community to make the trip a success.

Keller organized and led an 18-member trade delegation to Tai Pai. "We took over a cross-section of our community -- cultural, arts people, a physician, someone from education, someone from business and agriculture, a county commissioner, a chamber of commerce member, the mayor and a director from Planned Parenthood.

"We were promoting our county to them and vice versa. We traded ideas and leads for companies. It was wonderful."

"An economic development officer is certainly a good facilitator," says Pidgeon. "You must be able to work with people, keep them working and on line in terms of where you want to go and the kinds of solutions that you want to develop."

Keller loves the excitement of new growth and development. "I love being on the cutting edge of knowing where that's going to happen. I love the people contact, the interaction, working with new clients and finding out what their needs are and then trying to match those needs to their project."

Pidgeon likes the challenge of his job. "Very seldom do you have a day that's the same as the day before. There's a real variety of work to be done. Secondly, it's working with people -- you meet an awful lot of people.

"If you don't like a 9-to-5 job, economic development is a wonderful job."

Contact

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    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900
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    ndcrn@nd.gov | (701) 328-9733

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