Brian Hilson of Hoover, Ala., has been hired as the new president and CEO of FloridaWest, Escambia County’s economic development agency. He starts Aug. 1.
Why this matters: FloridaWest leaders were looking for an experienced economic development executive that could build a sustainable organization. Hilson fits the bill.
- Hilson is currently the executive director of the Japan-America Society. From 2011-2019, he served in the same role for the Birmingham Business Alliance. Before then, he worked for Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce first as senior vice president for economic development (1992-1997 and then president and CEO (1997-2011).
- Hilson was named to the Top 50 Economic Developers in North America list in 2007. He is also a past president of the Economic Development Association of Alabama and the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama. He chaired and currently serves on the executive committee of the Alabama Germany Partnership.
More on the search: He met with the search committee on June 12. The committee consisted of David Bear, Ryan Tilley, Jim Waite, Marcus McBride, Jeff Bergosh, Wes Moreno and Erica Grancagnolo. Bear served as the chairman.
While he has enjoyed working with the Japan-America Society, Hilson said he missed economic development, such as “strategic planning, project management, working on deals, understanding what a company needs and wants, and what the community potentially has that would correspond with that, and putting the pieces together.”
The FloridaWest attracted him because he wanted to work with a small community. He said, “I’ve worked in large organizations, large boards, large budgets, large communities, and I’ve always wanted to work in an environment that’s a smaller group of board members. And we’re very, very accessible and responsive to what we’re doing on a day-to-day basis with a small staff.”
Hilson added, “What I like to do is have a well thought out plan that is embraced by the correct community leadership, execute it, make good things happen, and do it again.”
Of his 47 years in economic development, nearly two decades were spent in his hometown, Huntsville.
“We recruited and developed 65,000 jobs–a lot of technology-based companies, the second largest research park in the United States, one the largest in the world,” he said. “A lot of defense industry connections, base alignment (BRAC) was a big, big part of our economic development process.”
Anticipating the search committee might have some reservations about his age, Hilton joked, “You might wonder from the standpoint of age, how much longer is this guy gonna go? And I know you’ve probably got incredible candidates, and I’ll assume that most if not all are, are younger than me. But I would just say this, ‘I wouldn’t hold their youth and inexperience against them.'”
He continued, “They’ll catch up at some point.”
Ehr Returns
Democrat Phil Ehr has announced he will take on U.S. Rick Scott in 2024.
Who? A Reagan Republican, Ehr switched parties to run for Congress and failed to win the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2018. Two years later, he did run against Rep. Matt Gaetz and lost a lopsided general election.
Why?
Florida Politics has more.
Navarre YP Coming
The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce is launching its Young Professionals.
- The mission of the YPs is to develop, connect and empower diverse young professionals in the Navarre Chamber through increased opportunities and resources to enhance their professional development and business success within the Navarre area.
Deja Vu: Inweekly and the Greater Pensacola Chamber facilitated the first Young Professionals group in 2006, and it helped to reshape Pensacola. See pensacolayp.com.
More Info: To learn more about the chamber or register for the Young Professionals Kickoff on August 22nd, visit www.navarrechamber.com or email Chanda.Ryan@NavarreChamber.com
And One More Video:
YouTube channel Bad Lip Reading released a spoof spot that imagined how Republican Ron DeSantis may try to kick-start his struggling 2024 presidential campaign.
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