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CAREER:
From 1978 to 1982, McLaren worked with the South Carolina State Development Board. In 1982, he became executive director of the Florence County Industrial Development Commission. In 1985, he was named the economic development director for the city of Chesapeake, and in 1988 he became executive director of the Chesterfield County Department of Economic Development. In 1999, he was made director of the business development division of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), and then, in 2003, was promoted to deputy director of VEDP.
EDUCATION:
McLaren earned a B.S. in marketing from the University of South Carolina’s College of Business Administration. He is also a graduate of the Economic Development Institute, a three-year continuing education program at the University of Oklahoma.
FAMILY:
He and his wife, Cathy, have two children. Daughter Caitlin has just graduated from the University of South Carolina, and son Matthew follows in his father’s footsteps in his work with the Hanover County Department of Economic Development.
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In the three decades in which Gary R. McLaren has worked in economic development, the speed at which decisions are made has accelerated rapidly. “It used to take 18 to 24 months for a company to select a new location,” McLaren, the new executive director of the Henrico County Economic Development Authority, recalls. “Today, that same process can be completed in six to nine months, largely because so much information about a location is available online.”
When McLaren, who assumed his new duties on April 20, began his career with the South Carolina State Development Board, most of the educating about a location was done in person. “There were a lot more back-and-forth visits,” McLaren says. “Now a company has done a great deal of its research before anybody ever picks up the phone. Today they’ll call and say, ‘We want to talk about this particular building or this site.’”
It’s fortunate, then, that Henrico has established such a strong reputation as a business-friendly county, with a strong communications program. “In addition, [County Manager] Virgil Hazelett has built a culture that really is willing to be a true partner with businesses that are thinking of locating here,” McLaren says.
A graduate of the University of South Carolina’s College of Business Administration, with a B.S. in marketing, McLaren also graduated from the Economic Development Institute, a three-year continuing education program at the University of Oklahoma. In 1982, he became the executive director of the Florence County (S.C.) Industrial Devel-opment Commission. In 1985, he became economic development director for the city of Chesapeake (Va.). Three years later, he became executive director of the Chesterfield County (Va.) Department of Economic Development. In 1999, he was named director of the business development division of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) and, in 2003, was promoted to deputy director of VEDP, the position he held until his appointment with Henrico.
“Gary McLaren has been a key player in Virginia’s economic development efforts for more than two decades, and we look forward to his leadership here in Henrico,” Hazelett said at the time of McLaren’s appointment. “Henrico County has long been known as a great place to do business, and we expect that reputation to continue to grow under Gary’s professionalism and expertise.”
Gregory Wingfield, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc., also greeted the news of McLaren’s selection with enthusiasm. “We at the Greater Richmond Partnership are very excited to have the opportunity to work again with one of the best local economic developers in the South,” Wingfield said. “Gary McLaren’s experience and contacts are without peer. As executive director of the Henrico program, he will raise everybody’s economic development game and help make the Greater Richmond region even more competitive.”
“Central Virginia has many strengths as a business location,” McLaren says. “An important one that can sometimes be overlooked is this: Once people come here, they never want to leave. The quality of life is so good that, even when companies close, as happens in a recession, their executives and their workers want to stay. That’s one of many reasons we will always have such a strong workforce.”
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