Seckman: ‘I’m here to create jobs’
When Heather Seckman answered a job ad posted on the Rome Floyd Chamber website years ago, she admits she didn’t know exactly what the Chamber of Commerce did. After reading the ad for an economic development assistant she said to herself, “I can do all that stuff.”
And she has — for the past 16 years.
Seckman was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. She moved to Rome with her family in 1981 when she was 14 years old. She spent two years at Pepperell High then completed school at Darlington.
She attended the University of Georgia, but graduated from Berry College.
Seckman, who is now the director of economic development at the Chamber, has been heavily involved in Rome’s job recruitment effort for 16 years.
She started at an assistant to Scott Morris. She had been working less than six months were Morris stepped down. She then served under Brian Dill and Mike Pennington for about six years.
Each time one economic development director would leave, it would take the Chamber four to six months to find a successor and the work ultimately fell to Seckman in the interim. After Pennington left, she decided that she was doing the work anyway so she ought to go ahead and apply for the position.
“I had enough of training people,” Seckman said.
She got it and has been working long hours ever since to bring jobs to Rome and Floyd County. “It’s never less than 40,” Seckman said. She said a lot of economic development work can get done on the golf course but that’s never been her style. “You can get a lot more productive work done in four hours,” Seckman said.
She said the amount of time the job requires has been a challenge through the years was raising three teenagers as a single mother.
Professionally, Seckman said the biggest challenge during her 16 years, as the director of economic development was the depth of the recession.
“I don’t think the Chamber phones rang in 2009,” Seckman said.
Seckman said the fact that Rome does not sit on an interstate highway has obviously been one of the biggest obstacles in recruiting industry to the community.
“That probably is in the top five reasons why we do get cut from projects, not having that direct access to the interstate,” Seckman said.
The lack of inventory when it comes to available buildings is currently near the top of the list of challenges to overcome.
The Chamber has issued a request for proposals from private developers to partner with the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority and Development Authority of Floyd County to build a new speculative building to lure a company to the community. “Spec buildings bring looks,” Seckman said. Those proposals are due to be returned to the Chamber this month.
Seckman points to leadership in the community as one of the chief positive factors for her role as a point person in the effort to bring jobs to Rome and Floyd County. Rome News-Tribune
Heather Seckman (second from right) leads a foreign trade delegation on a tour to take in the beauty of the Ford buildings on the Berry College campus in 2014. The visitors from France, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, and Austria also visited the Suzuki manufacturing plant on Technology Parkway and Darlington School. Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune
“We always get comments constantly from state project managers and private site selection consultants that they don’t regularly see communities where the city, the county, the Chamber, the development authorities all get along,” Seckman said. She said the prime example of leadership and cooperation between community leaders came during the run up to construction of the Lowe’s Regional Distribution Center on Ga. 140 at Ga. 53.
She said department heads from both Rome and Floyd County were at the conference table in the Chamber board room virtually every week going over a punch list of things that needed to happen to make sure construction of the 1.4 million-square-foot building went as smoothly as possible to get the new distribution center up and moving as quickly as possible. “It’s always been everybody wants to move fast,” Seckman said.
Seckman said speed to market is something that virtually every industry she attempts to recruit takes into consideration when making their choice of location for the new plant.
That’s one more reason she points to in defense of the decision to move forward with a spec building.
Responding to a question about what industries often express concerns about that the average Rome resident might not imagine, Seckman said a well-educated workforce probably tops that list.
“You just have to have skilled employees,” Seckman said. “They are always pleasantly surprised
when we talk with them about the Floyd County College & Career Academy, Georgia Northwestern Technical College, Georgia Highlands, Berry College and Shorter University.”
They’re impressed with the Floyd County and Rome City Schools.” She pointed to the number of Advanced Placement courses offered by the county schools and the partnerships between the Rome City Schools and Georgia Tech.
“Because of the lack of the interstate we have to do other things better than other people and
that’s why our education and workforce are critically important,” she said.
Seckman said there has been a significant increase in activity since the election. She said some of that is likely due to the change in administrations in Washington. Many see it as a more business friendly environment with less stifling regulations. “We are working with some existing companies right now that are going to expand because of that,” Seckman said.
She also said there has been a lot of interest from international companies. Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune The pad is nearly level for the Carlsen Precision Manufacturing facility that will bring new jobs to the Floyd County Industrial Park later this year.
Seckman said the job has helped her learn how to better interact with all different kinds of people. “Working with the consulate corps and all the international trade people has probably been one of the largest learning curves for me,” Seckman said.
She said different corporate cultures react different to doing business with a woman. “That’s OK, I’m not here for my pride, I’m here to create jobs for our community, and as we say in our mission statement, to promote prosperity,” she added.