Kay Brockwell, Economic Developer For Hire

What is a former journalist who has spent the last 15 years as an economic developer to do after successfully starting an economic development program in the small Delta town of Marion, Ark., and later helping the city of Hot Springs not only retain several large employers, but push those businesses to add more than 200 jobs and pump $20 million into expansion?

For Kay Brockwell, the former director of economic development in Marion and Hot Springs, opening her own consulting firm was the next logical step.

Her Jonesboro-based company, Future Focus Development Solutions, is specially designed to assist economic developers and chambers of commerce throughout Arkansas gain her decade and a half of experience on a contract basis.

“It’s a niche no one is filling, and I’m probably better suited than anyone in Arkansas to fill it,” she said. “Many communities have a need for economic development or communication services, and many economic development organizations have a need for supplemental staff or skills on an occasional basis. My experience is broad enough that I can fill just about any need any community or economic development organization has.”

Brockwell said that during her years, first working in Marion and later in Hot Springs, she would have liked to have had someone like herself to call for assistance.

“I thought that just from my experience of several years in the business, there were several times that I would have liked to have someone like me that I could hire for two weeks, that sort of thing. That’s something I really thought there was a market for.”

She said her experience in Marion is something that she keeps coming back to time and again, recalling that like many economic developers across the state, she was the first full-time person on the payroll for the city of Marion when she started work there in 1997, eventually making the small town just west of Memphis a finalist for a Toyota assembly plant only five years after she joined the city’s staff.

While the community did not get the Toyota factory and the manufacturing jobs that came with it, the experience taught Brockwell a lot about economic development, lessons she took with her to Hot Springs and will use in her new venture.

“I knew a whole lot more when I got through with that (project) than when I started,” she said. “There’s nothing like getting into a project like that. It’s like drinking water from a fire hose, but you’re going to learn it. Now I had a ton of support from the state and from Entergy on that project, but it would have been awfully nice to have someone backing me up like I can do for someone now. So I think that’s the biggest thing, just the advantage of my experience. I know every economic developer in Arkansas. People know me and know what they’re getting when they get me and know that they’re getting a quality product.”

Sue McGowan, CEO and director of economic development at the Paragould Regional Chamber of Commerce, has signed her organization on as Brockwell’s first client. McGowan said Brockwell’s knowledge and experience was valuable to her organization, which boasts 600 members across Greene County, in far northeast Arkansas, with a staff of three full-time and two part-time employees.

“We were looking at some revamping of our website and we were looking for someone who was familiar with business that could develop some of the information for us,” she said, adding that she knew of Brockwell’s experience through their memberships in professional organizations, such as the Southern Economic Development Council. “I’m not aware of anyone else in the state of Arkansas [who offers Brockwell’s expertise].”

While Paragould and communities of similar sizes may have staffs and only need help with specific projects, McGowan said she would see Brockwell being an asset to areas that don’t even have a one-person staff, which describes many small, rural Arkansas communities hungry for jobs, though not knowing where to go for help.

“I feel like, especially in eastern and southern parts of Arkansas, most communities and counties may not have an economic developer and most of them are just volunteer positions at the chamber (of commerce), not paid staff.”

By consulting with Future Focus, Brockwell said communities will get a top-level economic developer at a much cheaper rate than hiring someone to do the work on a full-time basis, with benefits.

“The other thing is you’re hiring me for 10 hours, 20 hours or putting me on retainer and keeping me for 10 hours per month versus a full-time employee. So overall, you’re paying less and it’s taking me less time than it would somebody who is figuring out something as they go along and I’m giving a higher quality product.”

Brockwell said while she will be based in Jonesboro, with easy access to many rural communities in eastern areas of the state, she will not limit herself just to that area or the rest of the state.

“I’m not limited to just Arkansas. Economic development is a small community and we all tend to know each other. If there’s a good opportunity, I may do some work elsewhere in the South.”

And even though she feels confident that her business will resonate with her colleagues across Arkansas, Brockwell said it doesn’t come without a little bit of hesitation.

“It’s a little bit of a scary thing starting your own business, to be on your own when you’re in your 50s, but it’s also exciting and I have been really encouraged and I’m really kind of surprised I haven’t had more panic moments than I have,” she said. “It tells me I must be doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”