KALAMAZOO ? Southwest Michigan First has hired Corpus Christi President and CEO Ronald Kitchens as the organization?s new CEO. Kitchens replaces former SWF President Barry Broome, who in February took the top economic development official in Phoenix. Kitchens starts in July.
During his five-year tenure in Texas, Kitchens is credited with attracting 99 companies to the region, which generated 34,000 new jobs and drew nearly $5 billion in new commercial development. In 2004, Site Selection Magazine ranked Corpus Christi fourth in the nation for highest level of new investment, behind New York City, Chicago and Detroit.
?Ron has tremendous passion for economic development and has a demonstrated track record for bringing jobs to Corpus Christi,? said, William Johnston, SMF?s board chair and the president of Greenleaf Companies. ?Our entire board is very excited to have him join our organization.?
Kitchen?s said Southwest Michigan is larger than Corpus Christi and has the potential to lead a national trend toward regionalism in economic development.
?Kalamazoo is within 60 miles of more than two million people, and it is poised to be a leader in economic development at a national level,?? he said. ?The potential for us as a community to grow and prosper is unprecedented. I?m honored to have been asked to lead this effort.
Since 2003, SMF has launched more than two dozen biopharmaceutical companies, mostly from scientific talent spun out of Pfizer, during its acquisition of Pharmacia Corporation. In 2003, SMF was ranked among the top 20 economic development agencies in North America by Site Selection Magazine.
Kitchens graduated from Southwest Missouri State University as well as the Economic Development Institute of the University of Oklahoma where he serves as an adjunct instructor. He is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) and has been trained in negotiation at Harvard University.
