FEDCO Director Michael Ladd, right, was on hand for the FEDCO First Pitch event at the Geneva Center, where he met with Amy Beechy of BizGro. Ladd was impressed with the event, noting he had overseen something similar during his tenure in New Albany. Photo by David Hazledine.

By DAVID HAZLEDINE
InkFreeNews

ROCHESTER — In January 2023, Fulton Economic Development Corporation named Michael Ladd as its new director. Among his immediate goals are to make FEDCO “more transparent.” Noting the county halved its funding to the organization this year, Ladd emphasized the importance of letting the council and the public “know more about what the organization is doing.”

One way he plans to do this is through monthly reports and publishing news articles “talking about what economic development is.” In fact, this process is already well underway.

Ladd began his professional career as a journalist. A native of Carbondale, Ill., Ladd attended Southern Illinois University, where he double majored in political science and journalism. He was then a reporter for a Mount Vernon newspaper, which he was sad to see went out of business around six years ago. “I remember my time as a journalist fondly,” he said.

However, in the 1980s he transitioned to the nonprofit world, first with the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce as manager of governmental affairs, followed by stints in East Chicago, Marion, Indianapolis and New Albany.

In Marion, Ladd oversaw a Main Street program, while in Indianapolis and New Albany, he was director of enterprise zones, tax-increment funded areas designated for economic development.

The Indianapolis zone, he explained, was a four-square-mile area in which tax abatements were given to incentivize property improvements. Other zone ventures included public art, facade improvements and entrepreneurial programs.

Before accepting the FEDCO position, Ladd spent eight years with Metal Dynamics, a contractor for the U.S. Navy.

Before Ladd came to FEDCO, the organization developed a strategic plan, which Ladd said he will be following. That plan may be viewed at fultondevelopment.org.

“I’ve had a long nonprofit management career,” he noted, which he plans to bring to the various programs FEDCO oversees. He also looks forward to partnering with Harry Webb and the Rochester Downtown Partnership.

Ladd will also be working to push forward the Blacketor Industrial Park development, using Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative funds from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

Ladd said there are some misperceptions about how economic development works. “It’s not magic. It’s a slow process.” He hopes to make this process more transparent through his articles and at regular meetings.

“Everybody needs to be pulling in the same direction,” he added, and the various entities of city and county government, as well as nonprofits, should “start talking about what portion of the work each takes. … A strategic plan is not only for our organization but the community as well and should be viewed that way.” He also hopes to ensure communities outside Rochester are more involved the process.

Ladd enjoys the variety of nonprofit work. “No two days are the same.” He also gleans a satisfaction from “helping the communities I’m in.” He still enjoys writing as well and he looks forward to “getting FEDCO’s story out there.”

On his free time, Ladd is an avid fisherman, particularly fly fishing for trout. “There’s noting better to get your head together than standing in an ice-cold stream. … It’s really more about being outside than fishing.”