New economic director in town

Jennifer Gerend is blazing a new trail in Edmonds.

Starting just a few weeks ago, Gerend, 28, became the city’s first economic development director. Her mission: bring in the businesses.

“Edmonds has a lot of the elements I like to work with; there’s a lot of potential for economic development here with the cluster of quality small businesses, a breathtaking waterfront and great location,” Gerend said.

Originally from Issaquah, Wash., Gerend attended Smith College and New York University, after which she worked for a New York economic development consulting firm. Her past experiences have helped lay the groundwork for her position in Edmonds, Gerend said.

“I worked on a wide variety of economic development projects in New York and for municipalities in New York, including some waterfront properties like Edmonds,” Gerend said.

Gerend also has worked with consolidation plans, brownfields redevelopment planning as well as an environmental non-profit group. She also has served as executive director for a development corporation in Brooklyn working on a main street revitalization project.

“The neighborhood I worked in had 40,000 residents, and it was somewhat like Edmonds in terms of the market, with 200 small businesses,” Gerend said. “I worked to fill vacancies, utilize the space more efficiently and bring in shops and restaurants the community wanted … as well as on historic preservation, planting trees, the whole scope.”

Gerend said she credits her career rise to good timing and fresh ideas.

“I think that economic development at the time I went into it was an area with a lot of growth and need, and I sort of took a different approach; I lived in the area I was working … and I was a little more in tune with local merchants already there, and I try to be really sensitive to community wishes,” Gerend said. “And I also just love what I do.”

That attitude was apparent to the Edmonds officials she interviewed with, including Mayor Gary Haakenson.

“The clincher for me was in the one-on-one interview, I asked ‘what would be the first thing you’d do (if you got the job)?’ and she said she’d talk to people in Edmonds to find out what businesses they’d like to see, and then she’d go get those businesses,” Haakenson said. “She’s got a lot of bright ideas, and she really stood out.”

Gerend, who since taking the $91,445 position has become an Edmonds resident, said she has several goals she’s currently working on, including that one. Taking inventory of vacant commercial and retail space in the city is her immediate goal, Gerend said, “to get a sense of what’s available and how it’s been marketed.” Then she’ll begin collecting feedback from the community on what types of businesses they’d like to see join the city, and work to recruit those businesses, she said.