The Sun Valley Economic Development Corp. has hired Harry Griffith, a board member of related organization Sustain Blaine, as its executive director.
"Harry's background is quite impressive, and he has also been leading the [corporation's] economic development team," said Joy Kasputys, fundraising chair for both Sustain Blaine and the corporation. "He has seemed to navigate those waters very well."
Griffith was chosen from a pool of more than 20 applicants, many of whom were from out of the area. Corporation spokesman Evan Lawler said Griffith was the most appealing candidate largely because he had been so involved in economic development efforts already.
"He knows the issues, he knows the players," Lawler said. "There won't really be any downtime while we're trying to educate someone."
Griffith previously served on the Sustain Blaine advisory board as one of the leaders for the energy sector. He also led the corporation's economic development team and the effort for Sun Valley to gain certification as an official Nordic Olympic training site.
Griffith said he believes having an executive director will boost the corporation's productivity, as he will lead the corporation's business retention survey, continue overseeing the Olympic application and manage public outreach.
"Having a volunteer team is great, but we really need someone who can spend a lot of time and a lot of effort," Griffith said. "I'm someone who likes to focus on discrete tasks and get things done."
Before moving to Sun Valley, Griffith worked in business development for British Petroleum, setting up service stations and watching them grow in countries that included Russia, China and Venezuela.
"It may sound like, oh, BP, a massive business, but this starts off as one or two people," Griffith said of the startups. "I've seen the whole business cycle, from one person on the ground growing to substantial businesses with hundreds of employees."
This is the corporation's first paid position. Kasputys and Lawler declined to disclose the position's salary, but said it's partially funded by a $27,500 grant from the Idaho Department of Commerce.
Kasputys said the rest of the salary will come from current reserves and private donations. Lawler said that though the organization did not receive public funding for 2011, it still has municipal funds from 2009 and 2010.
"We have some sort of funding from every government entity in the county," Lawler said.
Griffith is expected to begin as executive director as of Feb. 1.
Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com
Harry Griffith
