Missouri economic development director resigns

Linda Martinez has resigned as Missouri's economic development director after only eight months on the job, the St. Louis Business Journal reported Monday.

The weekly paper, owned by American City Business Journals Inc., cites a letter from Martinez to Gov. Jay Nixon, who appointed her to the office in January, which cites "different views on how to move the state that we both love forward."

Martinez, a lawyer with the Bryan Cave law firm in St. Louis, was the first woman to hold the position. Nixon told St. Louis Business Journal that Martinez plans to return to private practice. Nixon named Deputy Director Katie Steele Danner as interim director and said a search for a permanent replacement will begin immediately.

"I appreciate the work Linda has done over the first eight months of this administration," Nixon said in a statement. "Her efforts to create jobs and to give the department increased economic development tools ... will continue to pay dividends to the people of Missouri. I wish her success in her return to private practice, where she will continue to be an asset to this state."

Danner was a business development and marketing consultant in Hollister before joining the Nixon administration.

Nixon also noted that he has started a Show-Me Business Tour in an effort to "take our effort to create jobs to the next level." Nixon will meet with business leaders statewide about opportunities and challenges they face. The first stop is scheduled for Springfield Tuesday morning, at the recently opened headquarters for BKD LLP.

Martinez, 54, had been a member of the Bryan Cave law firm in St. Louis since 1982, according to the report.