by TRACY HEATH
On Dec. 3, 2001, Robert J. Rohrlack Jr., CED, entered into his new office as executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority (
www.mississippi.org), bringing with him 16 years' experience of state and local economic development. Formerly serving as the president and CEO of the Alliance for Economic Development in Gainesville, Fla., Rohrlack hopes to take the already competitive state of Mississippi to the next level in terms of economic development. Rohrlack spoke briefly with Site Selection magazine about how he plans to move forward.
Robert Rohrlack
Site Selection: As the new director of economic development of the state of Mississippi, what are your goals for the coming years?
Robert Rohrlack: The main thing I want to focus on is taking this organization, which has proven itself to be a strong asset for the entire state of Mississippi, and bring it to the next level. With the projects that have been coming in -- like Nissan among other projects -- and the results that we have been seeing in Mississippi, it's turning into a completely new level in which the state is competing and succeeding. So we make sure that's working and then we continue to the next level and continue to be a premier state for economic development.
SS: In your opinion, what is the "next level" for Mississippi?
RR: We're seen as a strong, competitive state in the Southeast United States and that continues to grow. We want to be seen as a location for industry looking for something within the entire United States, and from there, we want to be seen as a strategic location for companies looking to just expand their company anywhere. And that's through just hitting the streets and continuing to get the message out. We've discussed ways to continue being aggressive in slow economic times. We want there to be a constant, never-letting-up, progressive effort of going out there.
SS:Are there specific industries you expect to target, and if so, how do you plan to target them?
RR: Obviously, automotive has proven to be an ideal industry to be targeting for the state with the Nissan announcement and a lot of other projects that are going on. The polymer science and plastics industry has been strong -- the university is here and continues to be a draw. As a matter of fact, there has been a federal grant for $140,000 to do a target industry cluster analysis for the polymer and plastics industry. We continue to work on that. There's the telecommunications and communications industries, which have had a big push here. That continues to grow; it's got a strong presence. And we're looking to get more aggressive with aviation and avionics.
SS: What's the biggest challenge facing Mississippi in terms of economic development? And how do you plan to face this challenge?
RR: The biggest challenge is the economic times that everyone is facing. But it's not going to be how do we regroup or change what we're doing, but how do we maintain what we're doing and keep that forward focus happening.
As we look at those target industries, we need to understand what is unique in those industries that fits for us and how we can enhance our focus on that. For example, when the Governor and I did the fly around the state, we talked about this being a key time for working with existing industries to be sure that they're prepared for what's going on. We're hoping that their roots can be deeper, but it is also a key time to continue to go after those target industries even more aggressively. They may be on hold, and they may be watching what's happening, but we know this is not a permanent situation that we're in right now. So we need to make sure that we're at the forefront of their thoughts and potential planning when they start becoming active again. We're being equally if not more aggressive now to be prepared when the economy is going to be strong again.
