Wwp Business Strategist To Help Out At Edc Corporate Recruitment Agency Borrows Pete Kerwien For A Year

In order to assure that corporate recruitment efforts don’t lag while the Spokane Area Economic Development Council seeks a new president, the EDC has borrowed an executive from Washington Water Power.

Pete Kerwien, WWP business strategist, will be a loaned executive to the EDC for the next year.

The agency is worried about falling behind in its expanded job recruitment goals while the search process for Bob Cooper’s replacement goes on.

“The EDC’s board had chosen a goal of creating 5,000 jobs through recruitment efforts over the next five years,” said Frank Tombari, chairman of the EDC board of trustees. “So we’re trying to do the same thing in five years that we did during the past 10 years.”

Tombari likened EDC’s recruitment effort to the insurance business where a salesman visits hundreds of potential clients in hopes he can sign up a few of them.

“It’s a numbers game,” Tombari said. “If we are going to meet that goal, we’ve got to be building momentum. We need those big numbers in the pipeline now. Not a year from now.”

Tombari, who is a vice president with Farmers and Merchants Bank, said Ken Olson remains the interim director of the EDC. Kerwien, who is an EDC board member heading up the board’s business recruitment committee, will be responsible for generating company relocation and expansion leads for the EDC, and assisting in recruitment efforts. He will remain a WWP employee.

Cooper, who ran the EDC’s day-to-day operations as its president for 10 years, left the agency in April to organize and head the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura, Calif.

The EDC is undertaking a national search for his replacement. The goal is to have a new president on board by September.

Kerwien, who is director of corporate economic development at WWP and president of WWP subsidiary WP finance, has been actively involved in the EDC for more than 18 years.

“We are grateful to Washington Water Power for its ongoing dedication to the EDC and the community,” Tombari said.

He said the EDC will consider extending the loaned executive position in future years, even after a new EDC chief is hired.

“Twelve months from now, we may want to get another loaned executive if this works out,” Tombari said. “Landing these companies is getting to be extremely competitive. Having someone like Pete in there is a good opportunity.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo