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Bringing a mix of field experience, economic development background and the higher education coordination of his current role, Jesse Roush begins at the Southeastern Ohio Port Authority on March 16 as the new executive director.
Former director Andy Kuhn left the post in February to return to North Carolina.
“Long before working in the administrative side of things I worked 10 years in oil and gas until 2016 but then got laid off when the market tanked,” Roush explained. “But being laid off was a blessing to help me see the larger economic ecosystem and how both economic development and workforce development have to work hand-in-hand.”
Roush currently serves as the executive director of workforce development and corporate partnerships at Washington State Community College and has worked to build the school’s POWER grant funding and RAPIDS grant funding to fuel innovation in its training programs.
POWER, or Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization, is federal funding out of the Appalachian Regional Commission that is outlined to aid in retraining workforces in areas affected by job losses in coal mining, coal power plants and the related supply chains.
RAPIDS, or Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills, is the Ohio Department of Education’s similar year-to-year investment in retraining.
“And Dr. (Vicky) Wood is on the board of the port, too so she’ll remain one-tenth of my bosses and I’ll definitely be helping a good bit here until we get the transition finished,” said Roush.
Tony Huffman, director of adult technical training at the Washington County Career Center, is also a new addition to the port authority as a new board member.
“But what I know about Jesse is he has former economic development experience with APEG (Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth, Ohio’s counterpart to the ARC) and he’s been working on our side in workforce development--they’re very close cousins,” said Huffman. “He actually has unique experience from both of those worlds that many in economic development don’t have. He’s ideal for the job, very project and goal-oriented.”
Huffman said joining forces with the port both makes sense for the career center from an attraction for new businesses to the region standpoint, but also for maintaining technical jobs for local residents.
“One way to thwart losing good-paying jobs in our area is making sure we have the trained workforce ready to meet the needs of businesses,” he explained.
Both said the short-term goals of the board look to identifying present infrastructure both downtown in Marietta and in the western portion of Washington County and attracting outside investment.
“He’s been challenged by the board to find innovative ways to attract businesses to our area,” said Huffman.
Roush, who for the last year has served as the chair of the Belpre Area Chamber of Commerce economic development committee, said that his first task is to work with the city of Belpre and the port to move forward priorities oulined in the June 2017 City of Belpre Economic Development Strategic Plan and identify action items.
“We’re taking a spinoff of that and we’re underway right now with a consulting firm out of Newark to develop three to five infrastructure projects,” said Roush. “One of the first outputs of this will basically be a heat map of Belpre’s best assets from an infrastructure standpoint that we can then target locations to invite business investment.”
Roush said additional mid- and long-term goals he’s been tasked with include industrial real estate development.
“I’m essentially a project manager by trade and the port has some unique capabilities with how it’s structured to facilitate and build more mutually-beneficial relationships,” he said.
Roush said he is maintaining his seat on the Belpre chamber’s committee following this appointment and that he is also keeping his seat on the regional Workforce Investment Board.
Janelle Patterson can be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.
Southeastern Ohio Port Authority Board:
• Chairman: Hal Payne, general manager of Ken Miller Supply.
• Vice Chairman: Bill Ruud, president of Marietta College.
• Secretary-Treasurer: Matthew Edgell, senior vice president and human resources director of Peoples Bank.
• Vice Secretary/Vice Treasurer: David Haas, vice president of Morrison, Inc.
• Executive Committee, Past Chairman: Nathan Long, former plant manager of the AEP Muskingum River Plant.
• Members: Tom Webster, attorney; Dave Archer, Pioneer Group; Bryan Waller, JaniSource; Tony Huffman, Washington County Career Center; Vicky Wood, president of Washington State Community College; Stephen Keiser, Christy & Associates.
Source: Southeastern Ohio Port Authority.