By Tom St. Myer
FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance is turning to a familiar face to run its day-to-day operations on an interim basis.
The FloridaWest board appointed Rick Byars as interim CEO during its meeting Tuesday at CO:LAB Pensacola. Byars previously served as board president and chaired the executive committee that oversaw operations during the gap between former CEOs Scott Luth and Brian Hilson.
“It was just the right thing to do to help the organization through the transition,” said Byars, a senior external affairs manager at Florida Power and Light. “A lot of it has to do with my past experience. I’ve been in the business for 36 years and a large part of that’s been in the economic development space.”
Hilson resigned as CEO earlier this month to move back to the Birmingham area to be with elderly family members and his wife, who serves as their caretaker.
Hilson resigned two weeks before his one-year anniversary. The timing of his resignation benefited FloridaWest. Board of Directors President David Bear said the firm, Next Move Group, that conducted the CEO search last year promised to orchestrate another search at no charge if Hilson resigned before completing a year of service. Bear said FloridaWest will conduct a national search for its next CEO.
“They are going to now start posting (the position) and start talking to different people and organizations they know,” Bear said. “I’ll put together a search committee and chair it. I chaired it last time and I’ve worked with this group before chairing it, so it just makes sense for me to do it again.”
FloridaWest is saving money with Byars as interim CEO. Byars will serve in that capacity at no cost to FloridaWest. He will remain in his position as FPL, albeit with a lighter workload.
“FPL has been very gracious about what they want me to continue to do, very specific responsibilities,” Byars said. “The rest of my job responsibilities have been shifted over to the other team members of FPL to free up my time so I can focus on helping FloridaWest.”
Byars has served in management roles with FPL for nearly 10 years. He has been responsible for external affairs, community building, community relations and community development in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
FloridaWest is a public-private partnership with the mission to build, grow and sustain economic potential and prosperity in Escambia. Its economic development operations include attracting, retaining and expanding businesses by connecting the assets, resources and skilled workforce.
Notable triumphs for FloridaWest include helping secure $250 million in funding for ST Engineering to build an aircraft maintenance hangar. ST Engineering officially opened Hangar 2 at the airport last year.
Enticements from FloridaWest in recent years spurred technological advancements. ActiGraph, CIRCULOGENE, Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems and Pegasus Laboratories each rapidly expanded their footprint in the county.
FloridaWest is in the middle of a 5-year capital campaign. Its campaign goal is to raise $500,000 each year for $2.5 million. Bear said FloridaWest has fallen short of that goal, but he expects to ramp up efforts over the next two years.
Byars promised the board that he will aggressively seek campaign donations.
“We cannot fail with this campaign,” he said. “Failure is not an option. We got a long way to go, but the good news is a lot of people have the information, it’s just asking people with that information and then converting them to the commitment column.”