Economic Development
Gundersen interim president and CEO. Even before the tour, VEDP was under
pressure because of a botched project. A Chinese-led company, Lindenburg Industry LLC, had missed a deadline to return $1.4 million in state incentive money it received in 2014 for an Appomattox County factory that never materialized. The company had pledged to invest $113 million and to hire 349 people. The incident exposed a poor job in vetting the company, and VEDP has yet to recoup the money. It’s a glaring example of one of the points made in the JLARC report. In mid-August — three months before
JLARC’s review was released — Gundersen implemented a restructuring that has left some of its 100 employees disillusioned. The reorganization dismantled the agency’s Business Attraction and Business Expansion divisions, consolidating them into a new Business Investment Division. Also created were two new divisions and industry-based teams to put more emphasis on business recruitment efforts in distressed areas. When the restructuring was announced, two vice presidents with a combined 40
years of experience, Liz Povar and Mike Lehmkuhler, opted to leave. They had led the dismantled divisions. Another senior manager, Brent Sheffler, left this fall. Some current and former employees, who asked not to be identified, described VEDP’s work environment as “toxic.” They say staffers fear losing jobs if they don’t go along with reassignments that in some cases mean demotions in rank and salary. Others are concerned about how the work of the senior managers who have left will get done, with no transition plans in place to retain business relationships that were years in the making. These sources also say that three employees have been fired since October. Gundersen declined to comment on the
employee complaints. He did say via email that VEDP values employee input and is developing an employee opinion survey that would seek input annually. Clemente says he is not surprised by
dissension in the ranks. “Any time you make a change, 50 percent of the people think you’re an idiot, and the other half thinks you’re great. We have to do what we think is the best thing to do.”
A new CEO? In the meantime, VEDP has been trying
to move forward on the hiring of a permanent CEO. Clemente says the authority needs “a world-class, rock-star economic development executive who has experience in working out issues like we have before us today.” That person should be hired now, he says, to serve as a consultant as VEDP continues to evolve. Haymore, who serves on VEDP’s
executive search committee, says it has received nearly 200 résumés and interviewed the candidates making the short list. But Jones, the House Appropriations
chairman, believes “now is not the time to be hiring a new CEO.” Until changes in VEDP’s operations are made — an effort that could take more than one General Assembly session — he says it wouldn’t be smart to bring someone new on board. In the meantime, JLARC has formed a
new subcommittee on economic development that will closely monitor incentives in Virginia. As Landes explains, “We’re slowly taking more of a role in economic development programs because they are so important.”
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30 DECEMBER 2016
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