Brent Kisling has been named executive director of Enid/Garfield County Development Alliance. He starts May 4 and will make $105,000 annually.
“We were not looking for some-one from the Enid area,” said Brian Hayden, chairman of the Alliance. “We hired the firm to do a nationwide search to find the best person, and it turned out the best person is right in our back yard.”
The position is new for Enid and is made possible through additional funding for economic development from the city of Enid. Jon Blankenship has been holding the position of Alliance director and Greater Enid Chamber of Com-merce president. The decision was made to divide the two jobs and hire an Alliance executive director to specifically work on job recruitment for Enid and Gar-field County.
For the past eight years Kisling has been state director of U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, which annually invests in rural business, housing and utility projects. Prior to working for USDA, Kisling was field representative in Enid for U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe.
Kisling said he is honored to have been selected and is excited to start the job.
He said USDA Rural Development spent $450 million a year on business, utilities and housing. Among the projects he believes had the biggest impact are an employer-assisted housing program started through Advance Food Co. in Enid. That program expanded to housing starts across the state. Through the community facilities program he helped start a new Women’s Crisis Center in Durant, which is just being completed. He also assisted a company called Boatloaders to stay in Oklahoma and keep several hundred jobs in the state. Boatloaders is a device placed underneath boats to winterize them.
“We do several thousand a year, but those seemed to really make a difference,” he said of projects he has been involved with.
Hayden said the Alliance hired a professional search firm, the PACE Group, that received more than 50 inquiries, and all except Kisling were from outside the Enid area. The PACE Group selected a number of finalists, and they were interviewed by Alliance board members. Those candidates came from Texas, Oklahoma and Florida.
“As part of the process, the PACE Group came into Enid and visited with different people about what they felt we needed to be the experience of a person who would be in charge of economic development,” Hayden said.
Among those requirements were previous leadership and management experience, experience in economic development, relationship building and a proven track record of developing and implementing strategic plans.
“The main thing was finding someone with experience in economic development and working eight years for USDA Rural Development, he was in charge of a $450 million annual budget and did economic development for rural business and projects,” Hayden said.
The Alliance plans a public event in May to introduce Kisling, who will have an office in James Strate Business Development Cen-ter at Autry Technology Center.
Kisling and his wife, Jennifer, own and operate Maple Place Bed and Breakfast in Enid.