Tom Wilke starts as new Economic Development Director

Audio by: Aja Phillips
Story by: Julia Adkins

 

As of January 2015, Tom Wilke started his new position as the economic development director for the City of Kent.

The City of Kent began to accept applications for the position in 2014, after the loss of previous economic development director Dan Smith.

“The city’s Human Resources Manager, Elizabeth Zorc, posted a notice that state the City was accepting applications for the position in the newspaper, on the city website and sent the notice to several economic and community development organizations for posting on their respective websites,” said Community Development Director Bridget Susel.

The city had received 15 different applications for the vacant position, said Susel. Then Zorc went through all of the applications, ranking them each based on prior experience, education and ability to complete the needed economic development duties. The top four candidates were then asked to come in for interviews with Zorc, Susel and the City Manager, Dave Ruller.

“All four of the applicants interviewed were qualified and very strong candidates,” Susel said, “but Tom exhibited the most familiarity with basic economic development programs and principles. He had prior experience working in the private sector which means he has an understanding of what businesses need to be successful.”

His History

It was Wilke’s past experience that helped him land the job as the economic development director for Kent.

Wilke, a graduate of the University of Akron with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and also a graduate of Kent State University, with a master’s degree in business administration, worked in the food service industry for 33 years. He started working in the Taco Bell in Kent in 1981 and worked his way up the corporate ladder from assistant manger to region coach. He was then appointed to the Birmingham-based Taco Bell franchisee’s Vice President of Operations in 2004. He worked in the for-profit field until 2008.

In 2009, Tom left the for-profit realm of the workforce and became the director of Historic Downtown Millersburg in Millersburg, Ohio, which is similar to the organization Main Street Kent. From there, he served as the executive director of Holmes County Economic Development Council for two-and-half years before applying for the director position in Kent.

[pullquote]“When this job opened up, it was a very unique and fortunate opportunity for me,” he said. “I mean this is a great job, it’s better than I could have hoped for.”[/pullquote]

Wilke was drawn back to Kent for multiple reasons, mainly because of his history here with Kent, as he worked in Kent and came into Kent often for a good portion of his life.  “When this job opened up, it was a very unique and fortunate opportunity for me,” he said. “I mean this is a great job, it’s better than I could have hoped for.”

“There are a lot of similarities between what I did there [Holmes County] and what I’ll be doing here,” said Wilke.

One difference that Wilke cited about the job in Kent versus Holmes County is the type of businesses he will get to work with. “[In Holmes County] you’re working more with manufacturers, which I will do here in Kent, but here in Kent I also get an opportunity to work with the retail and service industries that we have here,” he said. “Not only in downtown but throughout the city and that’s where my background with Taco Bell should help out.”

His Goals

While only starting in Kent on January 5 2015, Wilke already has some steps he’s starting to take in order to fulfill his duties as the economic development director.

“The main role of an economic development is to bring high-quality jobs to the people that live in and around Kent,” he said. “Traditionally, that’s looked at as manufacturing jobs, but I think we’ve proven here in Kent that there’s good jobs in other areas besides just manufacturing, so my jobs will be to first and foremost help the existing businesses we have to stay healthy and hopefully help them to grow and as they grow they’ll add more jobs and more people to their staff.”

In efforts to start helping current business leaders in Kent, Wilke has already started meeting with the different owners to find out what they need from him. “So I want to get out and meet those folks and understand what their needs are,” he said.

Not only does he want to help the current businesses in Kent grow and prosper, Wilke is looking to invite new businesses as well.

“We’re always looking to attract new businesses to Kent. And we have several different tools at our disposal to do that with, such as financial incentive, whether it be property tax abatement or some things with income tax or some things with how we help them with infrastructure. And my job will be to put those kinds of things together.”

Some new projects that Wilke will be working on for the city will be short term and happening quickly. One example of this is the old courthouse on Water St.

“We want to have it redeveloped into something that can better suit the needs of the people that live and work here in Kent,” said Wilke. The city sent out requests for proposals in January and the deadline for them is March 20. “That’s a project that’s in my lap, so that’ll be a project that is short term and that’s something that is very visible because of where that’s located and how long that building’s been here in Kent.”

Susel is also looking forward to Wilke weighing in on different aspects within the city. “I would like to see Tom work with existing businesses to address any of their concerns or issues and to collaborate with new business that are considering opening or relocating to Kent,” she said.

With only two months into the job, Wilke has his hands full but is eager to continue working for the City of Kent.