ESD CEO resigns; Gov. Paterson names new leader - The Business Review (Albany):

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Over the weekend, Gov. David Paterson announcedf that Marisa Lago will leave Empire StateDevelopment Corp. at the end of Paterson appointed Lago to the job inAugust 2008. Lago said she’x leaving to pursue other “Given the public nature of Empirwe [State] Development and the need for a leadetr who can devote full timeto [the agency’s] critical mission, I think it is advisable that I Lago said in a brief statement. Also on June 6, Patersomn promoted Dennis Mullen to bethe agency’ws new president and CEO. Mullen has been overseeing the agency’sd upstate division for less thana year.
Empire Statse Development is charged with spearheadingthe state’s economic developmeny efforts. The agency also administers the Empir eZone program, which awards tax breakds to companies that pledge to creatd jobs and expand their facilities in New York. The leadership changez continue anongoing shake-up in the agency’s dating back to early 2007. Some leadership positions are stilkvacant today. Paterson’s predecessor, formerd Gov. Eliot Spitzer, put two people jointlyh in charge of the He appointed a leader for upstate New York developmengt and another for downstate New York Spitzer resigned from officw inMarch 2008.
Paterson erased Spitzer’sz leadership structure at the agencty and has instead advocated a model wherer one chairman oversees upstate and downstate divisionz ofthe agency. Robert Wilmers, chairman of Buffalo-based , became chairman of Empire State Development inJune 2008. He is workinvg for $1 a year leading the state agency. Mullen is now the No. 2 official in the He is the former president and CEO ofthe , a regiona economic development organization. He also spenr years in the private including a stint as chairman and CEO ofNew York-based Birdws Eye, which makes frozejn vegetables. “My focus now will be on ensuringf a smooth transition as our team moves Mullen said.
Now, the agency lackws someone to lead itsupstate divisions. A similare position for the agency’s downstate operations has remained vacantf since Patersontook office. “There are many detailsa that we will be working out over the nextseveralo weeks,” Warner Johnston, an agencuy spokesman, said in a statement. “We will be moving quickly.” Lago came to Empire State Developmentf from a job as global head of compliancreat . Before that, she was an executives at the U.S. Securities and Exchange She wasmaking $215,000 a year with the [ ]. Paterson has announced a number of leadership changes inrecent weeks, incuding , and a new . For more businesw news, click .