By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – The newly-installed head of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council said he’s a problem solver.
A perfect day for new President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hoban is to show off the Twin Cities for developers he knows from the Chicago area.
“At the end of the day, I’m here to do deals,” said Hoban.
“I’m here to match up developers with available land, available buildings in Downtown Bloomington. There’s a lot of opportunity in this town. We have to bring people in,” Hoban said.
Community leaders officially welcomed Hoban Thursday evening at a Bloomington Country Club reception.
Hoban leads the EDC as it faces scrutiny from elected officials. They want the organization to become more transparent about how it spends taxpayer subsidies.
Hoban said he can provide them with plenty of data, even if specifics about potential deals have to remain confidential.
“We’re going to utilize the best practices that I learned at Notre Dame with my business and analytics. We’re going to be tracking every activity that we do, whether it’s a project or interactions with realtors and developers,” said Hoban.
“We won’t always say what the business is, but we’ll always give the industry, how many jobs are on the line, and what the investment is going to be,” he added.
Hoban ran economic development efforts in south suburban Tinley Park, and also worked in Decatur.
His annual EDC salary will be about $190,000.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
