Tough job ahead for Niagara’s new economic development director
George Spezza’s new job won’t be easy.
The newly appointed director of economic development for Niagara Region will start Monday, tasked with helping Niagara rebound as many of its industries continue to struggle in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Several certain sectors have been hit very hard. The business community is suffering,” said Niagara’s acting chief administrative officer, Ron Tripp.
Although some Niagara industries have done surprisingly well during the pandemic, he said, businesses such as “hospitality, accommodation and retail have been struggling, and George has a lot of work to do.”
But Tripp said he’s confident Spezza — a former director of business growth services for Toronto’s economic development and culture office who also worked in the economic development sector for more than 20 years — will be up to the challenge.
“I have confidence he’s going to be what we need to move forward,” he said.
The recruitment process for a new economic development director began in earnest in September, after first being delayed pending completion of the report by Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé released a year ago that dealt with Niagara’s past recruitment processes, then further delayed this year by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tripp said the cross-Canada recruitment process was as thorough as possible.
“We cast the net as far and as broad as we could. The applicants came from across Canada and largely from Ontario. The response was very good and the recruitment process was very competitive.
“We were very pleased that George Spezza was very interested in joining our team. He demonstrated that, and comes with quite a bit of very successful experience.”
Tripp said Spezza had apparently been paying close attention to Niagara, despite working in Toronto.
“He entered into the recruitment process because he was very interested in Niagara and the potential of Niagara.
“He came to the interview and convinced us that he had done his homework. He came to that process with ideas and a passion to try to be a part of capitalizing on those opportunities.”
Spezza will take over from Valerie Kuhns, Niagara Region Economic Development Department’s strategic economic initiatives manager.
Kuhns has been temporarily filling the vacancy for the past two years, since former director Domenic Ursini was fired in December 2018 along with three other regional managers hired by nowformer CAO Carmen D’Angelo.
Tripp said Kuhns will remain with the Region.
“Val is an incredibly important member of the team, and she’s going to be that,” he said, adding local municipal economic development officers “were all very complimentary of how Val has held things together over the last two years.”
And like the recovery to come, Tripp said Kuhns has led the agency “through many challenges.”
“She persevered, and the whole team. They have a good team up there.”
Allan Benner is a St. Catharines-based reporter with the Standard. Reach him via email: allan.benner@niagaradailies.com