Five Questions: Ryan Mooney

Ryan Mooney, a nine-year employee of the Springfield chamber, has moved up from business development manager to vice president of business development.

Q: What does your new job entail?

A: I’ll keep some of the same responsibilities I had before: lead project manager for the chamber with economic development projects such as business attraction or business expansion. There are some additional duties – we have an administrative council for Partnership Industrial Center West, and it’s my responsibility to act as a liaison to that.

Q: What is happening in development at Partnership Industrial Center West?

A: PIC West is similar to a lot of master-planned developments. It’s a partnership between (the Springfield Business & Development Corp.), the chamber, the city, the county and City Utilities.

The chamber has oversight on the prospect end of it, working with companies interested in the park, helping them find a lot with the configuration they’re interested in so they can do the development. In addition to (the recently announced expansion at) Northstar Battery, there’s a couple of other prospects that we’re working with; they seem to be very promising as we move down the road.

Q: What are the key factors businesses look for when considering a new location?

A: A lot of the companies that we work with, whether it’s a distribution center or a manufacturer, an office or a call center, they’re looking for a few important things. One is having the proper site, but more and more it’s about finding the work force they need. As that becomes more and more important, companies become more attuned to what available (skilled) labor is out there ready to work.

Q: How does the announcement of layoffs at Willow Brook Foods impact business attraction?

A: From a business attraction standpoint, to the folks that may be looking at Springfield, a layoff can be positive for them. If they’re looking at locating a facility in Springfield, they see that as available labor. That doesn’t alleviate any of the pain for those folks that worked at Willow Brook for a long time – it’s unsettling to them – but our hope is that other companies will pick up the slack by expanding operations they already have here or by coming to the area. We see it as an opportunity to hire workers familiar with the manufacturing environment. Our hope is that ultimately we can bring in higher paying jobs, so maybe someone can upgrade their skills and hop on with a new employer and make more than they were before.

Q: Has the relatively weak state of the national economy impacted development here?

A: Locally, we haven’t seen much of a slowdown at all. We’ve been working with plenty of local companies interested in expanding, and the pipeline of new companies interested in the area hasn’t slowed. While there has been a tightening of the economy, I think there are a number of good companies out there that are looking to use the opportunity to expand and pick up market share. I’m not trying to sugarcoat it – we are in a little bit of a downturn – but we haven’t seen it much in deal flow, prospects in the pipeline, or those folks kicking tires and looking around.

Interview by Jeremy Elwood.