Development chief ready to step down

Tennille says big project in pipeline

 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL --12/12/14-- Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL --12/12/14-- Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

The November day after Republican Asa Hutchinson was elected Arkansas' next governor, Arkansas Economic Development Commission Executive Director Grant Tennille was barraged with questions from members of his staff. The most asked was, "What's going to happen now?"

He told them in an email that day: "Wednesday afternoon, followed by Thursday, Friday and a weekend."

"We have work to do," he added during a recent interview. "That's the only thing that matters. The rest of it will take care of itself."

Tennille, 46, will relinquish his office when his yet-to-be-named successor is appointed by Hutchinson. For the next couple of weeks, he'll continue to serve under two-term Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe. The governor named Tennille interim executive director in September 2011 and gave him the job in March 2012.

Tennille's recent verbiage on same-sex marriage caused him a political hiccup. He said legalizing same-sex marriage would make Arkansas a leader in the South and could go a long way toward creating more jobs here. Tennille said his school-age daughters were called names at school after his remarks.

Since Tennille took over, even on an interim basis, the agency has signed 304 agreements/projects with companies as of Nov. 30. The projects included new locations and expansions expected to create 13,175 jobs. The deals represent a cumulative $6.27 billion investment in Arkansas, said Scott Hardin, spokesman for the agency.

Arkansas' governor called Tennille a workaholic but said he also delegates to his staff when necessary.

"He is really good at analyzing opportunities and putting Arkansas' best foot forward," Beebe said.

Randy Zook, president and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, said Tennille took over at a difficult time, shortly after the unexpected death of former Executive Director Maria Haley.

"He ran that department in a period in time when there weren't a whole lot of new projects coming down the pike," Zook said. "The market was challenging, to say the least. I think under those circumstances, he gets high marks."

The biggest project landed during Tennille's regime is Big River Steel LLC, which is building a $1.3 billion steel mill in Mississippi County. The mill will hire about 500 workers at an annual average salary of $75,000. The company produces steel for the automotive, oil and gas, and electrical energy industries.

To lock it into place, Tennille had to go before the Legislature to present a case for use of a never-utilized constitutional amendment created to draw megaprojects like Big River Steel. Voters approved Amendment 82 in 2004, shortly after the state narrowly lost its bid to bring a $750 million Toyota truck plant to Marion in eastern Arkansas. San Antonio got the plant.

The measure, later amended, allows the state to issue bonds for funding of infrastructure and other needs, such as land acquisition and site preparation, roadway improvements, water and sewer services, and employee training. Tennille and his staff came up with the innovative funding Big River Steel needed to make a home in Arkansas. The director himself provided 15 hours of testimony.

It's possible that the short-timer could stay a little longer while the agency presents another big project to the Legislature for Amendment 82-provided funding. Tennille wouldn't name the company. He did say it was not as large an investment as Big River Steel but the number of jobs created could be about the same.

"It's locked in. It's ready to go," he said of the new project. Any other details would tip off competitors and a component of the company is in a highly competitive business, he said.

"It's a great project, great jobs, but more than anything else, it's a symbol of what Arkansas is and can be in the future," Tennille said. "People will be very excited about this project."

Details of Tennille's specific involvement are still being worked out.

"We're working as hard as we've ever worked," he said. "We've got incredible deal flow right now. We've got big projects that we're working on."

Whoever is on deck for the director's job means less than keeping the agency's team in place, he said. The nation's economic development community, mostly site location consultants, "is watching to see what the transition will look like and how that will change."

"A big part of our job is to show all those people that we're not going to miss a beat here," Tennille added.

One aspect of life that Tennille is looking forward to: a little rest and relaxation.

"Quite honestly, I'm a little tired," he said. "I would love the opportunity to charge my batteries and think about what the next move is." Tennille has lost 50 pounds over the last year -- some from stress, some from changing to a heart-healthy diet. He does take medicine for high blood pressure but said that is common among those serving on the governor's senior staff.

"I worry for a living," he said. "That's what I do. It has been my job to sit around and imagine the worst-case scenarios all the time. It's taxing."

Running for public office is not off the table for Tennille.

"Here's the one thing I'm positive of -- in some capacity -- I'm going to continue to try and serve the people of Arkansas one way or another," Tennille said. He's lived in eight different states in 46 years but said "I didn't really have a home until I moved here and chose this one."

Long ago, Tennille was a sports, then capital beat reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He followed the newspaper's then-political editor Rex Nelson to work for former Gov. Mike Huckabee. Over the next eight years, he worked as a public policy adviser for The Thompson Group in Little Rock, as a senior public policy adviser for Qwest Communications in Denver and lastly as co-owner of The Distribution Point -- a clearinghouse for kitchen and bathroom hardware in Birmingham, Ala.

He and his wife, Rebecca, came back to Little Rock when she landed a public relations job here. Tennille took time off to tend to his father, who died from complications from Alzheimer's.

His dad had a favorite saying that Tennille clings to today: "Finish with style."

Business on 12/16/2014

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