Village of Oswego, IL
A dynamic, results-oriented, and enthusiastic Economic Development professional is being pursued to aggressively promote our growing Oswego community to regional and national business leaders as theplace to operate and grow their companies.
The successful candidate with have strong communication skills and possess the talent to target and aggressively pursue a diverse range of businesses to support the needs of one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. The Economic Development Director must be able to effectively build relationships with business leaders and help them succeed in the community. A key task of this position is to develop and execute a comprehensive economic development strategy for the Village, and effectively negotiate with targeted businesses within adopted economic development guidelines.
Oswego’s next Economic Development Director will:
- Be an advocate and promoter for the Village of Oswego in all areas of economic development.
- Develop and execute and overall economic development strategy in line with the community needs and values.
- Be able to work with stakeholders to set economic development goals and work to aggressively pursue achieving those goals.
- Have an outgoing and enthusiastic personality with the ability to build strong relationships with existing and potential future business owners and developers.
- Listen to and understand the needs of existing businesses and the community at large.
- Have a history of successfully identifying and attracting target businesses.
- Effectively use data to negotiate potential deals and make recommendations to the Economic Development Commission and Village Board.
- Be able to effectively represent the Village’s needs with the utmost integrity and passion.
- The Economic Development Director serves as an adviser and chief advocate in all areas of economic development, with an emphasis on development and implementing strategies and programs that will attract new and retain and expand appropriate businesses for the Village of Oswego.
- Responsible for retention and/or expansion of existing businesses within the Village; includes coordinating business retention visits to develop an understanding of the local economic climate and acts as ombudsman with issues that may arise.
- Develops and implements short and long range economic development plans; gathers, interprets and prepares data for studies, reports and recommendations; coordinates activities with other departments and agencies as needed.
- Provides technical and professional advice; makes presentations to supervisors, boards, commissions, civic groups and the general public. Provides information on economic development issues, programs, services and plans. May be required to attend meetings and/or make presentations outside of normal business hours. Represents Village at meetings and conventions as time and budget permit.
- Prepares and maintains information on utilities, taxes, zoning, transportation, community services, financing tools, etc.; responds to requests for information for economic development purposes; prepares data sheets and other information. Responds to local citizens inquiring about local economic development activities and opportunities.
- Coordinates production of informational publications promoting the Village of Oswego to the development and business community for economic development activities. Included but not limited to economic development website, newsletter and print publications. Gathers data necessary to support informational campaigns.
- Establishes goals, objectives, policies based on the needs of the Village. Provides supervision, direction and guidance including regular communication and development of goals/objectives for all village staff and reporting department heads; assists all departments in any administrative or operational areas to insure regulatory, statutory or procedural compliance.
- Represents the Village and/or department on various boards and committee meetings. Serves as staff liaison to the Chamber of Commerce.
Bachelor’s Degree in public/business administration or related field.
Minimum of five (5) years economic development experience.
Any equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered
Compensation and Benefits
The Village offers a full range of benefits, including health, dental, 457 plans, flex spending, paid vacation, sick and holiday time. Expected pay $90,000 to $120,000 DOQ, with potential for performance-based bonus pay.
To Apply
Submit cover letter, resume and employment application humanresources@oswegoil.org. More information and the employment application is available online at www.oswegoil.org. Deadline June 12, 2016.