GRACE LEONG - Daily Herald | Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 11:00 pm
The Economic Development Corporation of Utah, or EDCUTAH, appointed a new full-time business development manager for Utah County.
Russ Fotheringham was named EDCUTAH's Utah County public development manager on Monday.
Fotheringham was former head of the Utah Valley Economic Development Association, a county agency that was eliminated in 2005 after the Utah County Commission decided to outsource economic development functions to EDCUTAH.
In his new capacity, Fotheringham will be located at a new EDCUTAH office at the Utah County Commission building in Provo.
His appointment is part of a new contract with EDCUTAH approved in February by the Utah County Commission to expand business recruitment, relocation and retention in Utah Valley.
He replaces Tom Gleason, who was appointed EDCUTAH's business development manager for Utah County in May 2005. Gleason, who had operated out of an office at Novell's East Bay campus in Provo, left that position last May to manage EDCUTAH's business recruitment efforts for the entire state and the Provo office was closed.
"Fotheringham has extensive experience in economic development and commercial real estate, and an amazing background and contacts with Utah County Commissioners, mayors and other officers in the area," said Tauni Everett, director of communications for EDCUTAH.
Most recently, he served as development director of Paladin Iron Corp. in Cedar City. He had served as associate director of the state's Economic Development Program, a precursor to the Governor's Office of Economic Development, and as a state consultant recruiting California companies to Utah, Everett said.
Under the new contract, EDCUTAH will implement an outreach and training program for city economic development officials and develop more online site identification and qualification services.
"One of our challenges is getting city economic development officials ready to respond to requests for information from site selectors or businesses looking to locate in Utah County. They have to know how to respond to any issue from giving information on utility regulation and water issues to dealing with the media," Everett said.
Fotheringham will help implement these training programs, help improve lines of communication among city development officials, and develop a regional economic development identity around Utah County.
"We will also include more information on Sure Sites, our online site identification program on www.edcutah.org, so that site selectors and consultants can have immediate access to what's available in Utah County. We will work with Utah County cities to qualify more areas as potential sites and include as much information as possible, like access to water, power, proximity to freeway exits," Everett said.
EDCUTAH is now helping 11 potential businesses that are considering locating in Utah County. These projects will account for more than 2,000 jobs. Last year, EDCUTAH helped four manufacturers to locate in Utah County. They include: Molecular Biologics of Lindon, International Inventory Management of Springville, and IM Flash, which to date has created 1,835 jobs in Lehi.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C6.