Restructured Alabama Department of Commerce pursuing more than 100 projects

The Alabama Department of Commerce has reorganized based on the state’s new strategic plan, is opening new overseas offices and is currently pursuing more than 100 projects in its pipeline.

Since delivering the Catalyst strategic plan to Gov. Kay Ivey last year, the Alabama Department of Commerce has been restructuring internally to best implement the plan while seeing its pipeline of projects swell.

Alabama Commerce Secretary Ellen McNair gave an update on Commerce at the recent Economic Development Association of Alabama summer conference. It’s all being driven by Catalyst, which is meant to shape the state’s approach to economic development for the next several years.

“That really did make us take a look at how we were set up, how we were organized and really make some changes in that direction,” McNair told Alabama News Center.

Catalyst identified eight strategic sectors the state should be targeting in its recruitment and expansion efforts: mobility (automotive and aerospace), defense, metal and advanced materials, chemical manufacturing, forestry and wood, agriculture and food, technology, and bioscience. Accordingly, project managers have been reorganized to focus on those industries.

“We have reorganized our project management team so that each one of the project managers now is responsible for one of those strategic sectors,” McNair said. “It really helps them hone in and really be able to focus on that.”

McNair said when it came to the bioscience sector, Commerce really didn’t have an expert in house to focus on that industry so the Department of Commerce has hired Alex Cate starting this month from HudsonAlpha.

“He’s going to be a great addition to our team,” McNair said.

That team has plenty of work in front of them.

“We’ve got well over 100 projects in our pipeline. It has really picked up a great deal,” McNair said.

It helps that the SEEDS (Site Evaluation and Economic Development Strategy) program has aided communities in developing sites ready for projects.

“We are so grateful to our local partners who are so boots on the ground and preparing their communities,” McNair said. “And, of course, the SEEDS program has really helped local communities in identifying these sites because we were a victim of our own success in really not having the available sites that we needed to be able to compete.”

Applications are open for the third round of SEEDS grants.

“We’re very excited to be able to get these new sites,” McNair said. “Then we’re able to really proactively go after projects from North Alabama all the way to the Gulf.”

There have been 25 SEEDS sites submitted to potential projects and three of them are hopeful to be able to announce projects soon, according to Miller Girvin, president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.

Some other “sites” that are important to Commerce are those that give them a presence around the world. McNair said the state’s office in Europe has been extended and the state will soon add offices in Japan and South Korea.

“One of the things we really saw was going to be very important in delivering this strategic plan is to have boots on the ground around the world,” she said. “We have had Christoph Doerr, who has led our European office. He is located in Germany, but he serves all of Europe. We just extended his contract for two more years and actually doubled his operational budget. And we are about ready to announce our representatives in Korea and in Japan. So we will have physical offices in both of those locations to represent Alabama’s interest overseas.”

The reorganized Commerce is also armed with tools passed in this year’s legislative session, like the Alabama Development Fund and new incentives targeting the entertainment industry.

“We are so grateful for the Alabama Legislature. They are such wonderful partners and they really get economic development,” McNair said. “We had tremendous support for our new economic development fund and the reorganization of our film office, which is now the Alabama Entertainment Office.”