Phoenix Biz Leader Backs Out of San Diego Job

Less than two days after publicly accepting the top job at the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. (EDC), Barry Broome changed his mind, saying Friday afternoon he had decided to remain in Phoenix, AZ, where he heads the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. EDC leaders introduced Broome to reporters Wednesday morning, saying he would take over in San Diego on Aug. 1. In a statement late Friday, the EDC says its “executive search committee will convene to secure a leader committed to San Diego and to the organization’s new regional jobs-development strategy.”

(The strategy has set a goal of growing 220,000 jobs here by 2020 in partnership with industry associations representing San Diego’s core economic strengths in life sciences, cleantech, communications, software, electronics, and defense.)

In a statement released by the San Diego EDC, Broome said, “There was an overwhelming response from the Greater Phoenix community for me to stay, and I felt compelled to honor this tremendous support.” He did not respond to a query from Xconomy today.

Broome’s change of heart came as a complete surprise in San Diego, according to Lauree Sahba, the EDC’s chief operating officer. Asked if the Phoenix council had made a counter-offer with increased compensation to keep Broome, Sahba said in a weekend e-mail, “No, their statements indicate they did not.” Broome called a number of executive board members in Phoenix Thursday night, saying he wanted to remain in Phoenix, according to local news accounts.

Broome told the Phoenix Business Journal “GPEC and the board extended their support to me,” he said. “They said if I wanted to stay, you can stay. Professionally, the opportunity in San Diego is staggering. But at the end of the day, this is where I wanted to be.” The weekly also reported that Broome made the decision without changes to his contract, pay, or benefits in Phoenix.

Debra Reed, chairman of the EDC’s 70-plus member board of directors, said, “We are disappointed with this decision, especially after announcing it publicly. However, San Diego has one of the world’s most diverse economies, and we have had interest in the position from some of the country’s top economic development professionals. We will move forward.”

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.