Mike Preston, an executive with Florida's principal economic development organization, is the new executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Thursday.
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Preston, 32, starts his post with the commission on April 6. He currently is vice president of government affairs for Enterprise Florida Inc., a public-private partnership between that state's business and government leaders. He took vacation time to come to Arkansas on Thursday for Hutchinson's announcement at the state Capitol.
Since Grant Tennille left as head of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission in January, Danny Games has filled in at the top post. Games will now return full time to his job as deputy director of the commission, Hutchinson said.
"I want you to know I've been excited about this announcement ever since I got elected," Hutchinson said of Preston at the news conference. A national search brought applicants from all over the country and six recommendations for Tennille's replacement.
Hutchinson said he chose Preston because he has the energy for the job, he has a spirit of competition necessary in today's environment and Preston is someone who "understands the political marketplace and how Arkansas can compete, will compete and will win." At the news conference, Preston was wearing an Arkansas Economic Development Commission pin on his suit lapel. His photo and biography already is on the commission's website, arkansasedc.com.
The governor said one of his peer models for economic development is Rick Scott, Florida's governor.
"He has disciplined his staff to bring him names of economic prospects to call every day," Hutchinson said of Scott.
"It is fitting that we would take one of his key economic developers and bring him to Arkansas," the governor said. A call to the Florida governor went unanswered.
In Arkansas, Preston's annual base salary is $167,706, about $139,700 of which will be paid by the state. The remaining portion will be appropriated by the private, nonprofit Arkansas Economic Development Foundation. Preston also will be eligible for a performance-based bonus totaling up to 30 percent of his base salary, to be awarded after each year of employment, the governor's office said.
The bonus, also paid by the foundation, would be determined after an annual review and awarded at the governor's discretion.
After Hutchinson took office, the state began advertising the job at a starting minimum salary of $139,000 a year, plus a privately funded annual performance bonus of $50,000 to $75,000 a year. The package included use of a state-owned car. Tennille's annual salary was $139,700.
Hutchinson touted Preston as being part of a team that helped create 147,000 jobs and $10 billion in capital investment over his 61/2 years in his job with Enterprise Florida. Key projects included relocating the Hertz worldwide headquarters, shifting 700 jobs and a $68.75 million capital investment to Estero, Fla., from Park Ridge, N.J., in 2013. That same year, Enterprise Florida helped establish the Northrop Grumman manufacturing Center of Excellence in St. Augustine.
Preston said in an interview later Thursday that his role in the Hertz deal was working with the Legislature to get Hertz a roughly $7 million incentive package for the rental-car company to make the move. In the same legislative session, he helped facilitate the manufacturing center, which represented 1,800 jobs and $500 million in capital investment.
A third noteworthy grab was the expansion of the Navy Federal Credit Union, drawing 5,000 jobs and $350 million in capital investment to Florida, Hutchinson said.
Beth Frady, director of public relations for Enterprise Florida, said Preston worked closely with the Legislature and the governor's office regarding any rules or regulations that help businesses land in Florida.
"He is our figure, our representative, between the Legislature and Enterprise Florida," Frady said.
Expertise in state politics is key, given that one of Arkansas' most recent wins -- Big River Steel LLC, which is building a $1.3 billion steel mill in Mississippi County -- required approval of a never-utilized amendment by the Arkansas Legislature.
Preston said he would focus on economic development in the state's rural communities, an endeavor he took on in his current Florida job.
"I grew up in a rural community in Florida, a county that's on the Georgia border, so I know firsthand some of the challenges that we face in the rural communities," he said.
He displayed a competitive bent, as Hutchinson had mentioned, when talking about going toe to toe with other states and countries for international business.
"We're not just competing with Nashville, Memphis, Louisiana and Texas, but we're competing with Florida, Illinois and California," he said. "We're also competing with China, with South America and Central America. It is a global competition, and there's no reason that Arkansas can't be No. 1 in businesses' minds when they're thinking about a place to come, work, do business, live, play, everything else."
Between college and his job with Enterprise Florida, he was chief of staff to Florida state Sen. Steve Oelrich, who no longer holds the office, and was an administrative assistant to Florida state Rep. Larry Cretul, who later went on to become speaker of the state House.
With Preston at Thursday's news conference was his wife of 103 days, Anne Imanuel, a Web anchor/reporter for a Tampa Bay, Fla.-area news network.
Business on 03/27/2015