Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

New Economic Director Takes Over, Excited About Job

There's a new economic development officer in town.

Chandler Russ officially took over as executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office Monday morning.

Hailing from Natchez, Miss., Russ, 26, earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Southern Mississippi on a golf scholarship. Upon completing his BS, Russ continued at USM, earning his master's in economic development.

While in college, he worked as an assistant with the Small Business Development Center in Hattiesburg, Miss., and with the USM Center for Community and Economic Development as a research assistant.

He was also the Community Development Officer with the Clarksdale-Cohoma County Chamber of Commerce.

Russ noticed the position in a state newspaper and decided to send in a resume. He also checked out the area on the World Wide Web, where he saw some of the things his predecessors had been doing.

The local economic development council liked Russ' resume and interview well enough to offer him the position.

"I liked what I saw," Russ said. "There area lot of positive things going on now. I met with the economic development board and mayor, they were excited about development."

According to Russ, local leadership involvement and excitement is half the game of industrial recruiting.

He was officially hired as of July 1, but July 15 was his first day at work.

Fortunately, he was able to find a house to rent before packing up and moving to Prescott. Russ moved into his new surroundings on a rainy weekend, but was welcomed to his first day at work with bright, sunny skies.

"I'm looking forward to working with industrial expansion," he said. "I hope to get existing industries to expand locally. Eighty-five percent of all jobs created in the last four years have been through existing industries."

He also plans to work hard and recruit industries to Prescott and Nevada County. "There are things we can do here to be more competitive," he said.

However, his first few days in office will be spent getting to know the lay of the land, who the people are and learning about the area.

"Economic development is not done by one person," he said. "It takes the entire community and county working together."

Russ praised the way Prescott and Nevada County leaders cooperate and work together for progress in the area. This, he said, will make his job much easier.

In his spare time, Russ enjoys taking to the links. The bachelor also enjoys reading, especially Mississippi author John Grisham, and quotes. "I love a good quote," he said.

He also likes fishing, meeting people and good jokes. Russ listens primarily to country music, but will also listen to some of the newer rock and roll.

"I'm excited to be here," Russ said. "Everyone's bee nice and I'm ready to get to work.

"The positive business attitude has impressed me the most. It's hard to find city and county governments working this close together. This makes economic development easier.

"I don't claim to have all the answers," he continued, "and will need everyone's help, and will hopefully get new industry here."

Russ said his first priorities will be to complete the Arkansas Community of Excellence plans begun by Gene Monk and worked on by Jim Sharkey, the two former EDO directors. He lauded their work on the ACE program, saying there isn't much left for him to do to complete it.

In addition, he plans on doing everything he can to make it easier for existing industry to expand.

From there, Russ will tackle the job of attracting industrial prospects to Prescott and Nevada County, doing all he can to convince them to locate in the area.

He said Prescott and Nevada County are in a great location, with the interstate and being central to several major metropolitan areas, such as Shreveport, La., Dallas, Texas, Memphis, Tenn. and Little Rock.

Russ also said the recent annexation and new water and sewer project will make attracting industrial prospects easier.

"We need to get our name out there," he said, "get our foot in corporate doors and let them know Prescott is a city of progress, and doing business here will be profitable."