PROVIDENCE – A search committee has unanimously recommended Ioanna T. Morfessis, a consultant from Phoenix with a Ph.D. in economic-development policy, to become the next head of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Rep. Donna Walsh told Providence Business News on Friday.
Morfessis “has a proven track record … and I really was impressed with her,” said Walsh, D-Charlestown, a member of the search committee. “She’s very much a person that I think can bring a lot of energy and optimism and creativity to what she does.”
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Morfessis is president of IO.INC, a Phoenix-based consulting firm she founded five years ago. From 1997 to 2003, she served as president and CEO of the nonprofit Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Inc. in Maryland.
Before that, Morfessis was president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council in Arizona for eight years, according to her résumé. She was executive director of the Phoenix Economic Growth Corporation from 1985 to 1989.
Alfred J. Verrecchia, chairman of the search committee, declined to detail the status of negotiations or say how many finalists were left in the applicant pool. But he said that the committee was working with Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s office to advance the search process.
Verrecchia said legislation signed Thursday by the governor will also speed up the process. The new law provides the next director of the EDC with a three-year contract. Under the former structure, the director’s term would have ended when Gov. Donald L. Carcieri left office in 2011.
“I think now everything will move along pretty quickly,” Verrecchia said.
The governor, the EDC’s board of directors and the Senate all must sign off on the candidate.
The administration has been searching for a new director since Saul Kaplan stepped down last December to lead the nonprofit Business Innovation Factory full time. Since Kaplan’s departure, J. Michael Saul, the EDC’s deputy director, has served as the agency’s interim director. Verrecchia said Saul did not apply for the job.
Walsh said the search committee conducted a nationwide search, brought in four candidates for interviews and then narrowed the field to two candidates, who came in for second interviews. The committee ultimately decided to recommend Morfessis.
Morfessis’ résumé says she received her bachelor’s degree from American University in Washington, D.C. She went on to earn a master’s of public administration at The George Washington University and a doctorate in economic development at Arizona State University.
Morfessis got her start in 1974 as director of resource development at the Greater Washington Business Center in Washington, D.C. She went on to work for the government of Montgomery Co., Md., before moving to Arizona in 1985 to lead the Phoenix Economic Growth Corporation.
