Brent Christensen – Delta Business Journal

New MDA Director sets sights on health care, energy and manufacturing

Falling in love with a woman from Hattiesburg, Holly Ellender, while he was studying journalism at Indiana University Bloomington is what first brought Brent Christensen to Mississippi. His first weekend in Hattiesburg, he got engaged and landed a job at the Hattiesburg American. After a year there as business and government reporter, which made good use of his degree in economics and public policy from Duke University, fate intervened to put Christensen on a different career path when he was tapped by David P. Rumbarger to become vice president of economic development for the Area Development Partnership (ADP).

“It was a huge opportunity to work for someone like David,” Christensen says. “What a great mentor. What a great teacher. Then along came Gray Swoope, whom I worked for as well. I got to learn at the knee of two very talented economic developers early in my career, which shaped me not only in economic development, but as a person.

Next Christensen went back to Tampa, Fla., where he grew up, and worked for the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Then it was on to the Gainesville (Fla.) Chamber of Commerce for ten years.

“The chamber there is not a typical chamber,” says Christensen, who was appointed in May by Gov. Phil Bryant as executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA). “We ran a high-tech business incubator, and took on some workforce development responsibilities, as well. The University of Florida became a tremendous partner of ours in economic development. I have had the good fortune to go from working with one university in Florida to now working with multiple universities in Mississippi, each with is own incredible strength and expertise.”

Christensen, who heads up an agency with about 300 employees, was considered an ideal mixture of someone who knows a lot about Mississippi, but has also proven himself elsewhere. The Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce has been ranked in the top one percent of chambers in the U.S.

“Brent has a proven economic development track record, and he sees the importance of business sectors like health care and energy,” Gov. Bryant says. “He also knows the value of a strong, vibrant workforce in attracting investment, and he understands the importance of growing existing businesses to compete in a wider market. I am extremely confident in Brent’s ability to lead Mississippi’s economic expansion efforts, and I know he will work hard to help me create a business climate that fosters growth and development even in these tough economic times.”

“I think his strengths are being a clear communicator and a strategic thinker,” says Rumbarger, president\CEO, Community Development Foundation, Tupelo. “He brings a studied, thoughtful and active approach to our state economic development efforts. MDA is challenged by fast-changing economic times and the need to be nimble to meet the needs of clients/prospects. Yes, these are very challenging times, but states that will succeed will find new ways to serve clients, and new ways to educate/train our workforce. That will be a critical issue in a changing economic landscape and an advanced manufacturing future.”

Mississippi Economic Council President Blake Wilson says Christensen’s success with technology transfer at the University of Florida in Gainesville bodes well for what can be accomplished in Mississippi.

“He has recently come from a university community and one of our key thrusts in Mississippi is to better tie the university communities to economic development with technology transfer,” Wilson says. “That specific experience is going to be very beneficial to us in Mississippi. He has also worked in the Tampa market, which is a very big market. There is a lot of diversity in his economic work. He has both big and small town experience. He has an understanding of Mississippi. You want to bring someone in who will grow with the job, while at the same time bringing a new look to the job.”

Christensen surprised some by taking the first few months on his job mainly to listen instead of tell other people what to do. Wilson says it was smart of Christensen not to rush out to tell everyone what to do.

“He spent the first few months listening instead of talking,” Wilson says. “He was careful to make sure he had the lay of the land. He didn’t come in and make snap judgments. That was a smart move. I’ve had the privilege of working in three states, and every state is very different. Can you expect to do things here like they are done in Florida? It is a different ballgame, but you can adapt and adopt.”

Some might not envy Christensen taking on the job as the state and nation struggle to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Competition for economic development has never been more fierce.

“Economic development has become not just a top priority but the top priority of government, as you can see just by watching the national election,” Christensen says. “That means it has become even more competitive than in the past, and I can tell you, in the past it has been very competitive. We are seeing states like the state I just left that may not have been as aggressive in economic development become more aggressive. What has worked in the past may still work, but it requires just a little bit more. There are strategies to make sure we remain competitive in terms of economic development and make sure our marketing efforts are such that we are going to outshine many competitors.”

Under Bryant and Christensen, the state plans to target three key sectors of the economy. Information was just released on Gov. Bryant’s Medical City initiative that seeks to improve the research and health care capacities of the state. The Mississippi Legislature has passed new health zone legislation designed to promote research, medical device manufacturing, and growth of existing health care organizations.

Manufacturing and the energy sector will also get a lot of attention.

“With Airbus locating in Mobile, Ala., in close proximity to Mississippi, we have the potential to take advantage of the great aerospace infrastructure we have in the state,” Christensen says. “When you start listening to experts, there are tremendous opportunities in re-shoring manufacturing by bringing back jobs from overseas countries where companies haven’t realized the advantages they expected because of things like language barriers and the time difference. Companies are bringing back manufacturing to the U.S. to make sure they are not losing their competitive advantage. That is happening not just in manufacturing, but service sectors jobs are coming back as well. Gainesville has been attracting companies adding jobs in the U.S. to complement operations in India. Customers were demanding that.”

Christensen says he and the governor are keenly interested in the energy sector, both from the research and production standpoint, and ancillary jobs, as well.

Christensen, the son of a physician who often was called out in the middle of the night, learned a strong work ethic from his father along with a desire to make a positive difference in other people’s lives.

“I can’t tell you how many times I was out and one of his patients happened upon him, and would say they were forever grateful to him for making their lives better,” Christensen says. “He was a general surgeon, so he was often dealing with some very sick folks. The ability to heal them and give them a better quality of life was a big driver in his life, and my life, too. When we do our job at MDA, ultimately our goal is to make folks’ lives better by providing them a first job, a new job, or a better job. That is a big driving factor in what I do at MDA. It is a great feeling when I can walk into an office building, manufacturing center or distribution center, and feel I played a small role in giving those folks job opportunities.”

While a lot of the attention for economic development goes to big new projects, Christensen says MDA’s number one priority is retaining jobs within existing industry and helping them grow.

“The projects that get the headlines are naturally those that bring jobs 100, 200 or 500 at a time,” he says. “Expansions of ten or 50 at a time don’t make as big a splash. But that is where we do most of our work. I can tell you 70 to 80 percent of our work is making sure existing industry has what it needs to stay in Mississippi. We help them with workforce needs, help them compete for new customers, and help them compete for expansions with other facilities in other states within their own company. We make sure we are keeping those businesses happy so when other states knock on their door, they don’t open it to people interested in taking them elsewhere.”

Keeping existing business healthy also makes a big impression on prospects. Typically when a new company is looking at locating in Mississippi, its representatives are keen to talk to existing businesses.

“They want to go straight to the source and ask how it is to do business in the state,” Christensen says. “To recruit new developments, we have to keep existing business happy, expanding and successful in Mississippi.”

Christensen has also been in discussions with the Mississippi Secretary of Agriculture about putting more emphasis on ag.

“That holds strong opportunities for the Delta going forward,” Christensen says. “We are analyzing how we can best go about doing that. I was blown away by the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. If I learned anything from my time in Gainesville, it is that a lot of research has business applications. I believe something similar can be done from research at Stoneville, Delta State and other academic institutions. A lot of folks have bent my ear about having someone working at MDA who is focused on agriculture. That is something you will see coming from us in the very near future.”

Christensen sees teamwork as being vital to being successful in economic development; the key is bringing the business leaders to the table and involving them in the economic development process.

“When companies come to a community, they want to feel part of a team,” he says. “They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and feel they have friends on the ground who provide help. The private sector involvement in the Delta is incredibly encouraging. It makes me very optimistic for the future of the Delta.” DBJ