PROVIDENCE – Mayor Jorge O. Elorza on Tuesday named a new economic-development director, filling a key position that’s been vacant since January.
Mark F. Huang, of San Francisco, comes from the private sector and he will take over the city’s top economic-development position. His predecessor, James S. Bennett, served under former Mayor Angel Taveras from 2011 until he left in January to return to the private sector after Elorza took over at City Hall’s corner office.
“I am pleased to welcome Mark to Providence and excited to work with him to craft new economic development opportunities,” Elorza said in a prepared statement. “Mark brings a dynamic set of skills and experiences that will help develop innovative new approaches to creating jobs and building up our workforce.”
Huang has more than 15 years in financial and strategic clean-tech venture investments and most recently founded Tolero Ventures, a venture capital firm in San Francisco, according to his LinkedIn page. He also co-founded Virginia-based Novus Energy Partners, a clean-tech venture capital fund in 2008.
According to his LinkedIn page, Huang has “experience in the developing world to include [Southeast] Asia and a year in Baghdad, Iraq, working on basic nation-building at the neighborhood level. [He] later transferred to the Green Zone [in Baghdad] to focus on the economic restructuring of Iraq’s moribund State-Owned Enterprises and to develop programs to help stimulate the private sector.”
Prior to launching his own companies in the venture capital industry, Huang served as senior vice president of General Electric’s Energy Financial Services, according to his page.
Huang served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1991-2004. He holds a bachelor of science in naval architecture and marine engineering from the Webb Institute and a master of business administration and a masters of international affairs from Columbia University.
Huang will be responsible for the city’s economic development efforts, overseeing the department and the divisions within it, including Planning and Development, Inspections and Standards and the Workforce Development Board.
Elorza, a first-term mayor, indicated in April that a finalist had been chosen from three finalists and Elorza spokesman Evan England says the city and Huang have been finalizing relocation arrangements.
The City Council does not need to confirm Huang, as it’s not a city-chartered position, according to England.
The city says Huang will spend the next week “meeting with key stakeholders in Providence and Rhode Island,” including a boat tour of Providence Port with Elorza, other elected officials and members of the city’s business community, according to a release.
