Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 19, 1994 TAG: 9401190134
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Courtesy of a state grant, Virginia Tech has hired Ed Whitmore III who, along with Fitzpatrick, was a vice president in the old office of economic development at Dominion Bankshares.
The New Century Council was formed last year to develop a strategic economic plan for the Roanoke and New River valleys. After five sessions involving more than 100 council members, Fitzpatrick intends this week to announce public hearings on the main points of the group's brainstorming sessions.
Virginia Tech makes no bones about the fact that Whitmore was hired as a research associate to coordinate New Century Council's burgeoning efforts. Douglas McAlister, executive director of public service programs at Tech, said the university had been looking for a way to build a "bridge between the two valleys."
As the group moves forward with the vision it is developing, Fitzpatrick said Whitmore's new job will give the group a Blacksburg contact.
"I think it's really important for us to have some folks up there, physically, in the New River Valley," he said. Tech's hiring of Whitmore also should align with what is expected to be one of the council's main thrusts: tapping into the resources available through the region's colleges and universities.
Fitzpatrick noted that Hollins, Ferrum and Roanoke colleges, the region's two community colleges and Virginia Tech and Radford put 40,000 students within the council's grasp. At 10 percent of the region's population, students are as significant to this region as they are in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area, he said.
One of the New Century Council's goals will be to develop a plan to transfer technology from the colleges and universities to the region's industry more quickly.
"A majority of growth that comes about in this country in the next 20 years is going to take place around research universities," Fitzpatrick said. "We're looking at those universities not only as educators but as economic engines - can they add another cylinder or two?"
Whitmore's Southwest Virginia connections cover a lot of turf: He served on the Marion Town Council and the Smyth County School Board, is on the state's Information Technology Council and graduated from Tech with a political science degree.
Whitmore's connections run not only southwest, but northeast: This fall he spent weeks on the campaign trail with Lt. Gov. Don Beyer.
John Clarke, a managing partner at Catawba Capital Management, used to supervise Fitzpatrick and Whitmore at Dominion. Clarke said Whitmore's style is to take "a more direct approach" than Fitzpatrick.
"He brings freshness and aggressiveness and some degree of cockiness to the New Century Council," Clarke said of Whitmore. "His connections to Don Beyer are awesome, and Beyer continues to be interested in economic development."
Clarke credited Whitmore with coaching many Southwest Virginia localities into the state's Certified Business Location program. Clearly, others said, Whitmore knows the game of economic development.
Darrel Martin, assistant to the president at Tech, said one crucial thing Whitmore will bring to the table is the ability to quickly gauge if the council's ideas are realistic.
"He will take ideas and suggestions, run them through a reality check with his contacts and see if they're workable," Martin said.
And Whitmore is known as someone willing to speak his mind - and tell a powerful person that an idea won't float.
"It's going to take some stubborn follow-through," Martin said. "Somebody may have a pet idea that just isn't feasible. He'll do it."
by CNB