Bob Langenkamp, who became CEO of the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City in March, has since then announced a number of new positions and staff members.
The latest is Drew Solomon, an existing EDC staffer named to the new position of vice president of business and job development. His hiring follows a national search for the best person to manage the EDC’s research, retention and attraction initiatives.
“We are very excited to announce the promotion of Drew Solomon as vice president of business and job development for the EDC,” Langenkamp said in a release. “This is an important position overseeing business attraction, retention and expansion activities; all of the agency’s tech and entrepreneur programs; international business; research; and marketing functions.”
Solomon joined EDC in 2011 as coordinator of entrepreneurship and industry initiatives. He was a member of the task force that created LaunchKC, a series of public and private initiatives aimed at nurturing tech startups in the city. LaunchKC has since evolved into a national grants competition that annually awards a total of up $500,000 to 10 early-stage tech ventures.
Solomon also was a driving force behind Techweek choosing Kansas City as its sixth location for the organization’s national technology conference.
In his new role, Solomon will be responsible for the direction and management of site evaluation, proposals, local and state business incentive packages, development partner and government relations, retention and expansion plans for existing businesses, and business attraction-related work based on the new AdvanceKC strategic plan.
“It’s been energizing working on the city’s entrepreneurship initiatives these last four years,” Solomon said in a release. “We have a very strong business and job development group at the EDC that does amazing work. I am looking forward to helping drive their success and deliver more proactive results for the city’s business and job growth in the future.”
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*This is a repost from the original Press Release from the Kansas City Business Journal. Media inquiries should be directed to Reporter, Rob Roberts at 816-777-2242