Mitman will leave April 30 to become executive director of Easton Industrial Land Development Company Inc.
Phil MitmanMitman will remain at LVEDC until April 30.
In the meantime, the board of directors will form a search committee and conduct a nationwide hunt to find a replacement.
LVEDC Chairman Don Bernhard said the board will consider candidates from the private and public sectors. But it specifically wants someone with professionally certified economic development credentials.
“An absolute ideal candidate would combine those credentials with ties to the Lehigh Valley,” Bernhard said Monday.Mitman, a former mayor of Easton, has run the region’s chief economic development organization since 2008. He said his new job will allow more personal time and opportunities to assist in development affecting downtown Easton.
Mitman, 67, replaces the retiring Charles Roseberry at EAILD, a private nonprofit group whose offices are based in city hall.
“It’s a good transition for me,” said Mitman, of Easton. “And LVEDC gets an opportunity for some new leadership after some of the wonderful things that have happened here.”LVEDC directors in October said they would begin succession planning for a new leader in 2012, which the board said was part of a normal process. Bernhard said Mitman was not asked to leave and the parting was “entirely amicable.”
Mitman took the helm at LVEDC after the brief and tumultuous tenure of Beth Gorin, who resigned in 2007 after seven months on the job.
“I think, early on, his primary job was to rebuild trust in the organization,” Bernhard said of Mitman. “I think he did that.”The Bethlehem-based group’s job is to attract and retain business in the region. It arranges loans and grants for companies and helps out-of-town employers relocate here.
LVEDC operates on an approximately $2.4 million budget of private and public money, including hotel taxes from Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Bernhard added that under Mitman LVEDC earned accreditation from the International Economic Development Council, becoming one of only 29 economic development groups in the United States to have that designation.
“The Lehigh Valley has been recognized the last couple of years as an area where things are happening economically,” Bernhard said. “There is a lot going on here that is not going on in other parts of the state.”The organization also weathered controversy under Mitman’s tenure including a termination last year.
An LVEDC Twitter post in June said employees often leave work early on summer Fridays, some to play golf, as part of a flexible-hours policy.
LVEDC issued several clarifying statements afterward, saying no employees leave early for the week unless they have already logged 40 hours.
Mitman fired social media specialist Vanessa Williams days after the post. Williams has since hired an attorney seeking to have her name cleared of wrongdoing.
Bernhard and Mitman said that issue did not factor into his departure. Mitman said the Easton development group contacted him last fall after reports that LVEDC was preparing for a change in leadership.
EAILD leverages private funds to promote development. The organization has aided projects in Forks and Palmer townships and is now focusing on downtown Easton, said chairman and area businessman Andy Daub.
Daub described Mitman as an ideal fit.
“We’re excited about it,” Daub said. “I think Phil’s experience in economic development is going to be a tremendous aid to us. We feel there is opportunity in the Easton area. I think Phil has the skills to exploit those opportunities. He knows Easton well.”Salary is being negotiated but Mitman said it will be a reduction from LVEDC, where he earned $125,000 annually. Bernhard said the salary for Mitman’s successor has not been decided.