Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce
Vice President, Economic Development

Open Through: January 13, 2012

Chattanooga Area

Located in Southeast Tennessee near the corners of Georgia and Alabama, Chattanooga-Hamilton County has a growing population of 337,000 and anchors an MSA with more than half a million people. Once an old-style manufacturing hub with a downtown that emptied every evening and never filled on the weekends, Chattanooga now enjoys a quality of life and economic vitality that national publications ranging from Outside magazine to Industry Week have rated among the best in America.

The Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce serves the business community of this vital and growing region by developing and implementing comprehensive strategies to accelerate economic growth and prosperity. Since 2008, Chattanooga and the surrounding region have attracted billions of dollars in new investment to establish new operations, most notably Volkswagen’s only U.S. auto assembly plant, a new Alstom facility to build the world’s largest power generation turbines, and an Amazon.com fulfillment center. These new corporate citizens join a diverse local economy that includes the headquarters of major insurance, trucking, food and beverage, and manufacturing operations as well as a strong tourism sector.

Job Description

The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce seeks an executive with the strategic leadership ability and economic development credentials to craft and implement a long-term vision and plan for the continued growth of economic prosperity in the region. The successful candidate will have the skills and ability required to lead a professional and seasoned economic development team while maintaining the energy, flexibility, decisiveness, creative problem resolution and relationship-building required of the leader of economic development activities for the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County.

The Vice President of Economic Development is responsible for managing the Economic Development Department to recruit new business and industry to the Chattanooga area, to develop new businesses from the Chattanooga area and to support existing businesses with their retention and expansion needs. The position reports to the President and CEO and staffs the Chamber’s Economic Development Committee.

Essential Functions:

• Provides supervision and directs the work of the economic development department, including Business Development, Existing Business Development, Research, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Foreign Trade Zone, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County PILOT Program and related support personnel
• Plans, directs and implements domestic and international recruitment programs for new business and industry, including trips to key geographic markets, various trade missions, shows and marketing activities.
• Leads international business development missions and responsible for building and maintaining global partners and relationships to cultivate foreign direct investment and business export activity.
• Supervises all leads and visits of prospective business clients to the area including matching of interests with available resources.
• Seeks business prospects through interpersonal contact and varied media
• Directs research activities for special projects and specific client/prospect requests.
• Responsible for quarterly performance review meetings with the City of Chattanooga.
• Supervises target incentive programs to ensure success in recruitment, retention, or expansion.
• Assists new and existing businesses in resolving infrastructure problems, regulatory compliance, legislative issues, etc.
• Serves as the Chamber's representative for local, regional, state and national committees and regional alliances related to business development programs.
• Recruits and recommends community partners and volunteers to assist on recruitment projects
• Develops and administers a departmental operating budget to accomplish the objectives of the economic development department and the chamber
• Directs the publication of promotional materials, audio-visual media, and other support literature to promote the area’s business climate
• Maintains good working relationships with other development agencies, planning organizations and private firms to provide assistance to business prospects.
• Cultivates new funding opportunities including maintaining good relationships with existing economic development investors.
• Represents the chamber and public sector in select economic development matters including, but not limited to, incentives negotiations, incentives performance review, global business development missions, and the marketing of public industrial parks.
• Supervises, motivates, evaluates performance and determines work priorities for assigned personnel.
• Performs other duties as assigned by the President and CEO
  

Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in business, economics or related coursework and prior experience of up to ten years in an industry-related management position or equivalent combination of education and related experience or training required. Certified Economic Development (CED) status is desirable.

Preferred knowledge base includes: Economic development principles, finance, real estate, knowledge of community resources and developmental needs, ability to package and sell the area to prospects with knowledgeable of applicable governmental regulations, infrastructure requirements and labor markets.

Candidate must be available to travel extensively, both domestically and globally. Travel may constitute as much as 20% to 50% of the position’s time.

Submit Inquiries To:

Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce
811 Broad Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Attn: Cheryl Millsaps,
VP, Finance and Administration
CMillsaps@chattanoogachamber.com
www.chattanoogachamber.com