New position of economic development director being filled by Scott Gibbs City tabs interim economic boss

WOONSOCKET — The man who’s overseen the expansion of the industrial park where pharmacy giant CVS Health has grown to occupy more than a million square feet of office and distribution space is Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt’s choice for interim economic development director.

Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island President Scott Gibbs said his main priorities will be serving as the administration’s point-man for handling investment opportunities that are already in the pipeline and identifying candidates who would be in line to succeed him as a permanent economic development director – a new position for the Baldelli-Hunt administration.

Gibbs, who’s been with EDFRI or its predecessor organizations over 30 years, isn’t leaving his current position. But he’s already set up shop on the fourth floor of City Hall, where he’ll be working about 20 hours a week as an independent contractor through EDFRI’s consulting arm, New England Economic Development Services. His fee is about $1,000 a week – money that’s coming from the payroll account for the administration’s first-ever economic development director in the fiscal year 2019 budget.

“If I didn’t think I could help I wouldn’t be here,” Gibbs said. “I like this mayor, I think she’s real hands-on when it comes to economic development, and I really love Woonsocket. I’ve always believed in its potential.”

“If I didn’t think I could help I wouldn’t be here... I really love Woonsocket. I’ve always believed in its potential.” –Scott Gibbs, Economic Development of Rhode Island president and interim economic development director for Woonsocket

In addition to relieving the mayor of the day-to-day chores of managing current development prospects and finding a permanent director, Gibbs said a third priority will be to begin shaping a long-term economic development strategy for the city. That may be the most complex component of his mission and will certainly require more hands on deck than his own.

Baldelli-Hunt says she has long known of Gibbs’ talents and wasn’t sure he’d be interested in serving as an interim economic development director if he were offered the job. She’s tremendously pleased that he was.

“In the end it was our respectful working relationship that brought this marriage, so to speak, together,” the mayor said.

Baldelli-Hunt said there is plenty for Gibbs to do. An old trope about the boom end of the economic cycle in Woonsocket is that it’s among the last communities in the state to recover after a recession – but it’s here. And Baldelli-Hunt, who memorably declared upon taking office in 2013 that she would also perform the duties her predecessor at City Hall had delegated to an economic

development director, now says she needs a hand.

“Being able to bring Scott on at a time like this – when the economy is extremely active – we do have vacancies, vacant land in Highland Corporate Park,” said the mayor. “I have quite a few prospects on my desk that I will be reviewing with him, probably tomorrow, and transitioning those over to him.”

The mayor had budgeted $70,000 to fill the position of economic development director full-time. Including benefits and other perks, the actual costs to carry the position would be about $100,000. The mayor says NEEDS’ stipend for providing Gibbs’ services is roughly half the higher figure, with the value of the benefits converted to salary. Gibbs isn’t receiving any benefits.

Baldelli-Hunt sought an economic development director last fiscal year as well, but the position was cut by the City Council. When Baldelli-Hunt renewed the request in May, the council cut it again, but this time Baldelli-Hunt vetoed the cut and the council was unable to muster the supermajority of votes necessary to override the veto.

The term of service for the interim position is open-ended, which basically means Gibbs will remain an at-will subcontractor for the city un-

til he and Baldelli-Hunt decide his services are no longer needed.

As president of EDFRI, Gibbs has been in charge of developing the real estate assets of Highland Corporate Park, a roughly 400-acre office, manufacturing and warehouse park straddling the Woonsocket-Cumberland line. A hodgepodge of hightech, retail and light manufacturing enterprises occupy some 2 million square feet of space in the park, including CVS Health, which maintains its corporate headquarters there. Founded more than 50 years ago as Consumer Value Stores, the company has morphed into a diversified pharmacy and health benefits manager that, in 2017, was the nation’s seventh largest, with $177 billion in annual revenues.

EDFRI is a private, non-profit organization whose main strategy for creating economic growth is through providing real estate. The organization was formed many years ago from the merger of the former Woonsocket Industrial Development Corporation and the Blackstone Valley Development Corporation, and has since spun off NEEDS, its consulting arm, to provide technical support for cities and towns.

Among other things, NEEDS is currently assisting Newport in redeveloping a former elementary school as a “business incubator” – a project worth about $8 million, according to Gibbs.

Gibbs is a Certified Economic Developer ( CEcD), a designation awarded by the International Economic Development Council, and is the only CEcD in Rhode Island. He also holds master’s degrees in regional planning and business administration, as well as a doctoral degree in business administration.

With more than three decades of experience working with small businesses and nonprofits, Gibbs is “intimately familiar” with the trends and markets that are unique to the Blackstone Valley, Baldelli-Hunt says. That means he’ll be able to be able to quickly evaluate and respond to potential investment opportunities.

“Handling economic development isn’t just making cold calls or knocking on doors,” the mayor said. “You have to have the ability to pick up the phone and have the person at the other end of the line want to speak to you and have the respect for you that can potentially lead to expansions, development and new business – and know the avenues you have to take to pull together an economic development project.”