Expectations high for Carcieri choice to lead EDC

Ocean State business leaders hold high hopes for Ioanna T. Morfessis, as she takes the reins of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
Gov. Donald L. Carcieri on Dec. 8 announced the Arizona economic consultant’s appointment, subject to approval by the state Senate. That same day the EDC board of directors approved offering Morfessis a three-year contract with a $250,000 annual salary plus benefits, the use of a car and payment of relocation expenses.
“She has a big personality, there isn’t any question about that,” said Hasbro Inc. Chairman Alfred J. Verrecchia, who chaired the search committee. He added: “We wanted someone who is going to be the individual that is going to energize the economic environment here.”
The appointment of Morfessis, who holds a Ph.D in economic policy and once led the nonprofit Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Inc., comes almost a year after Saul Kaplan left to run the Business Innovation Factory full time.
Scott Gibbs, president of the independent Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island, said the state needed a strong leader who could tackle the state’s high unemployment and poor business climate.
“It’s not a matter of tinkering in my opinion,” Gibbs said. “It’s a matter of completing, in a wholesale fashion, rethinking how we deal with economic development in this state.”
Gibbs and others said Morfessis must find a way to bring state agencies together and reach out into the private sector to form private/public partnerships.
Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, said she came away impressed with Morfessis after sitting in on an interview.
White described Morfessis as someone holding specialized economic-policy experience, rather than just a general sense of business practices.
“Just because you’ve been in business, that doesn’t mean you understand the global economic-development race or new markets, or entrepreneurs,” White said.
Morfessis now heads 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. Business leaders said they hope Morfessis brings focus and a long-term vision to an agency that has seen a revolving door of leaders. A change in the law passed by the General Assembly this fall allowed the governor to offer Morfessis a contract that would not be tied to the individual sitting in the governor’s office.
“We’re looking forward to it being a more permanent position and hoping and encouraging them to look at some long-term strategic planning, something that we feel previously has been lacking,” said Lauren Slocum, president of the Central Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce.
Some in the business world also hope the agency spends more time focused on existing businesses and small companies, rather than continually beating the drums in an attempt to bring new businesses to the state. Slocum and Roger Warren, executive director of the Rhode Island Builders Association, noted that about 95 percent of companies in the state are categorized as small businesses. Warren said the small businesses, which many contractors fall into, are the backbone of the state’s economy and need help, too.
John Grady, executive director of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association, mirrored Warren’s comments. Grady said his group looked forward to working with Morfessis, who he hoped would bring a different perspective.
“It’s always important to bring business to the state, but I think a lot of businesses and manufacturers … have felt neglected,” Grady said.
Morfessis will start with controversy already surrounding her. An outcry rose in some sectors over her pay, which is $150,000 more than her predecessor made.
At the EDC board meeting last week, Carcieri defended the salary, saying the state needed to offer it to attract the best-qualified person from a national pool of candidates. And Gibbs said that the salary makes sense when one takes into account Morfessis’ experience and education and her willingness to relocate to a state with major challenges.
“If they do a good job, that kind of compensation is just a drop in the bucket,” Gibbs said. &#8226