FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, August 3, 2007
MEDIA CONTACT:
Ann Williams or Sarah Moss, 720-865-9016
Hickenlooper Appoints New Director of Economic Development
(DENVER) Mayor John Hickenlooper announced Thursday his appointment of André Pettigrew as the City and County of Denver’s new Director of Economic Development, starting on August 6, 2007.
“André’s experience as a senior executive in entrepreneurial and large organizational environments – both in the private and public sectors – will be a great addition to the Denver Office of Economic Development team,” Hickenlooper said. “He understands the relationship between economic health and every issue our community faces and is eager to help us expand new opportunities throughout the city.”
When Hickenlooper took office in 2003, he integrated the City’s various economic development functions into a new, cabinet-rank Denver Office of Economic Development comprised of Business Development, Workforce Development, Small Business Opportunity and Housing and Neighborhood Services divisions.
“By integrating its approaches to business support, workforce development, and neighborhood vitality, the Denver Office of Economic Development has the tools, talent and mandate to promote opportunity in every corner of our community,” said Pettigrew. “I look forward to working with Mayor Hickenlooper and the City team to strategically allocate resources where they are needed most and ensure that the City’s door is open to all who want to create jobs or revenue-generating projects in Denver.”
A proven organizational leader and manager, Pettigrew has extensive experience with publicly-financed capital projects and procurements, labor and workforce issues, and working with the technology and venture capital communities to promote investment, innovation and business growth.
For the past six years, Pettigrew has served as Chief Operating Officer for Denver Public Schools, managing the District’s business and non-instructional support operations including information technology services, human resources, facility management, transportation, safety/security, food services and purchasing.
Prior to joining DPS, he worked as Vice President of Marketing for the iBelay Venture Capital Fund, a $100 million private equity fund targeted at investing in early-state Internet startup companies, and as an independent consultant focused on business/venture development, strategic technology management and organizational change management for private and public sector clients.
A member of former Colorado Governor Roy Romer’s cabinet, Pettigrew served for four-and-a-half years as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Personnel/General Support Services. In this capacity, he served as the chief administrative officer for the State responsible for managing the business operations in support of all state agencies and institutions of higher education. His responsibilities included information technology, financial reporting, personnel administration, procurement, state buildings and other support services.
He previously served as vice president and director of the Boulder Development Commission, overseeing Boulder’s economic development programs and initiatives.
In the early 1980s, Pettigrew co-founded TEM Associates, Inc. in Emeryville, California, a research planning consulting firm specializing in energy technology, environmental analysis, strategic planning, organizational development and computer applications for business, industrial and government clients.
Pettigrew currently serves on Denver’s workforce development board and the University of Colorado Business School’s advisory board. A graduate of the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Emerging Leaders Program, he is a former member of the Greater Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP) board of directors and the National Academy of Public Administrators advisory board.
A former member of San Francisco’s Small Business Commission, the California Assembly’s Small Business Resource Committee and 1986 delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business, Pettigrew received the Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Advocate of the Year Award for the San Francisco Region in 1981, and was honored by the U.S. Department of Commerce for outstanding contributions to minority business development in 1984.
He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated from the State and Local Government Senior Executive Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
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