Texan to Head Team NEO

After a long and not so easy, search process, Team NEO (Northeast Ohio) has found the right person to head the new regional business development and marketing organization. Bob Farley, a well-known economic development executive at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce in Texas, will take the organization's reins in early November.

Farley's mission will be to work with business, government and civic leaders across 13 counties to help make this region more competitive in attracting and retaining businesse and jobs.

Bob has an extensive background in commercial development, economic development, site selection, logistics, public policy, research and engineering. He has also lived and worked in Chicago, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He currently serves as executive vice president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, where he directs all corporate recruitment activity in the aerospace, biomedical, financial services and logistics industries. Before that, Farley worked as a partner of Fantus Consulting, helping companies with site selection. I first met Bob during his Fantus days.

According to a Team NEO press release, Farley will hire a staff of about 10 to assist in getting the job done. Initially, the organization's office will be in suburban Brecksville, which is about midpoint between Akron and Cleveland.

I wish Bob well in his new assignment. He will need time to build and mount an effective strategy on a regional scale. This will take time and patience on the part of the Team NEO's Board and the organization's initial founders. Experience shows that successful regional ED initiatives, like the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the San Diego Regional ED Corporation and others, need time to "grow into" their mission and figure out where and how they can best "add value" to local communities and business.

Realistic outcome expectations should be set to guide the new organization, especially until the economy moves into higher gear and NE Ohio communities improve their readiness for economic development.

A quick success or two will be important to boasting morale and gaining longer term commitments from other community and regional ED groups. Hopefully along side these short term wins will be an innovative longer term strategy that rebuilds local, national and international business investment confidence in Northeast Ohio.

In general, my advice to not expect any silver bullets, anticipate that competition for future deals will be much more intense, and be prepared to to use a "team leadership model" to get results.

Stay tuned for more information as it is made available.