Preston Redevelopment Agency chairman takes helm at SeCTer
The chairman of the Preston Redevelopment Agency has been named interim director of the Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region economic development agency, replacing Stephen MacKenzie, who left this month to take a similar position in his home country of Canada.
Sean Nugent, a 63-year-old retired Pfizer Inc. executive who also is on the Preston school board, said he expects to fill the position for six to nine months as SeCTer seeks a permanent replacement.
He didn't totally discount the possibility he would throw his hat in the ring to fill the executive director role long term.
"My wife claims I never really retired," Nugent, who took leave as a SeCTer board member to take the interim job, said in a phone interview Wednesday.
MacKenzie, who resigned after three years heading SeCTer to take the reins as chief executive officer of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation, could not be reached to comment on his exit.
But Chuck Seeman, chairman of SeCTer's board, said MacKenzie resigned and left early this month to take on his new role.
Seeman said the SeCTer board has formed a search committee and expects to name a permanent replacement for MacKenzie within six to nine months.
Nugent added that one of his main goals is to maintain the momentum of several MacKenzie-led initiatives, including completion of the latest Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy plan for the region being led by Juliet Hodge that should be ready by the end of the year, as well as developing a new internal strategic plan for SeCTer and refreshing the organization's bylaws.
The amended bylaws and strategic plan, he said, should be ready by the organization's annual meeting in November.
"There's no reason to slow any of that down," Nugent said.
SeCTer has three main activities: the statewide PTAP program that helps local businesses connect to opportunities in government procurement; a loan program that helps entrepreneurs in the region fund startups and expansions, and an economic development and marketing component that promotes the region's business climate and helps grow jobs.
Nugent has four direct reports, and Lisa Wood, who heads the PTAP program, has five people statewide under her wing.
Nugent said he wants to develop stronger ties between SeCTer and the local Chambers of Commerce as well as the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board and municipalities.
Nugent said he sees SeCTer as having a convener and relationship-building role in the community to create economic-development opportunities.
This may be different from the role it assumed during years in which the agency was associated with two successful attempts under former SeCTer leader John Markowicz to fend off closure of the local submarine base through the Base Realignment and Closure process, he said.
"Our intent is to get back on that business development platform," Nugent said. "Let's talk about the skills we have in the region."
Seeman, SeCTer's board chairman since January and a former executive with United Community and Family Services, said he is encouraged by developments in the region, including the new CURE Commons business incubator in Groton, Spark Makerspace in New London and the Foundry 66 co-working space in Norwich.
The emphasis on small entrepreneurial businesses is a good thing, he said, after a long period in which the region focused on major employers such as Electric Boat and Pfizer.
"We think we need to pay equal attention to developing our own entrepreneurs in the region or attracting new entrepreneurs to the region," Seeman said.
Along the way, he said, various agencies in the region devoted to improving the business community need to come together to decide how best to work together.
"SeCTer needs to find its way in the economic development community in southeastern Connecticut," Seeman said. "What we're doing is developing the foundation right now."
Nugent said he sees his role as trying to change the tone of the business community so that people understand some of the accomplishments of local entrepreneurs rather than focusing on the region's economic challenges — challenges that have placed it among the hardest-hit areas in the nation in terms of job recovery after the Great Recession.
"We haven't promoted the assets we have," Nugent said. "We've got the skill set in the region. I think we've been scaring people away."
Nugent said the region needs to build on such assets as its educational community, including the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, the Coast Guard Academy, Mitchell College and Connecticut College.
"We’ve got a strong academic setting here," he said.
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