Warner named CEO of Partnership
February 22, 2010
By CHRIS TRAINOR/ ctrainor@indexjournal.com
Now that was an extended audition.
After leading the organization in an interim capacity for more than a year, Mark Warner has officially been named CEO of local economic development firm Partnership Alliance.
Warner, 54, a Ninety Six native and Lander University graduate, has been serving as the partnership’s interim executive in charge of operations since former CEO Jay West resigned in January 2009. Before taking on that interim role, Warner was the Partnership’s Workforce Champion.
Partnership Alliance board chairman R. Thornwell Dunlap III said selecting Warner as the firm’s CEO on a full-time basis required a thorough process.
“We engaged professional search firm that we had actually used in the past,” Dunlap said. “Their scope of work was to first review our strategic plan that was adopted a little over a year ago, then align the positions, starting with the CEO position, of the Partnership with the strategic plan and the objectives in the plan.”
Dunlap said the board has been pleased with Warner’s performance in the area of workforce development. He said the board has gotten “very positive feedback” from numerous entities who have worked with Warner as he has served as the Partnership’s interim leader for the last year.
Dunlap noted Warner has worked well in the areas of recruiting new business, dealing with expansion opportunities with existing industries and working with the appropriate constituents to bring such projects together.
Warner said he is committed to executing Partnership’s strategic plan for economic development. He said part of that is expanding the agency’s existing business program.
“A key piece of the strategic plan was, ‘How do we leverage what is going on at the Research Park and the Genetic Center to move Greenwood forward from an economic development standpoint?’” Warner said. “Another key piece is to leverage our resources with the Department of Commerce and the Upstate South Carolina Alliance on our business recruitment efforts and lead generation efforts.
“The strategic plan is a pretty intensive document. When we look at the elements that we think that we really need to hone in and focus on in the next three to five years, those are probably some of the biggest efforts.”
Warner said workforce development and talent development will also continue to be “key pieces.”
While he acknowledged 2009 was a tough year in economic development, Warner said there was some progress locally.
“We have had, thankfully, some local businesses that have done well enough to secure some expansions,” he said. “Some of those have been consolidation projects, which means someone else is losing that business somewhere else. But some of it has been new expansion. It has been a little bit of both.”
