New economic development head named for Sunflower County
Tim Climer named to post
by Robert McFarland, Jr.
DBJ Contributing Writer
Sunflower County over the years has been home to many highly successful entrepreneurs and corporations. The new Sunflower
County economic development director hopes to see that this trend continues.
"I am very excited about coming to work for Sunflower County," says Tim Climer, the Executive Director of the Sunflower
County Economic Development District. "Many well-known businesses have been home-grown here and I look forward
to working with these established concerns and the up-and-coming ones. With the county's business history, our geographic
location, our workforce training programs, and tourism opportunities such as the proposed B.B. King Museum, the future also
appears very positive for recruitment opportunities in Sunflower County."
Raised in Southaven, Climer graduated from Southaven High in 1982 and received a management degree from Ole Miss in
1986. After his undergraduate work, Climer also spent some time attending law school and graduate school at Ole Miss. After
his education, Climer's first job was working for Mississippi Valley Gas in the auditing department in Jackson where he was
responsible for auditing 14 of the company's 27 statewide offices. He was later promoted to the marketing department in
the Southaven office where he got his first taste of economic development.
After Mississippi Valley Gas, Climer spent nine years as Plant Accountant at Batesville aluminum can manufacturer
Crown, Cork and Seal Company, Inc., a large Fortune 200 company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. After this position,
Climer entered the economic development arena where he was tapped to oversee the North Mississippi Enterprise Initiative,
Inc. - a system of three business incubators that were built to serve Oxford, Batesville and Grenada.
"This was a joint project with local economic development organizations with the goal being to foster entrepreneurial
development," says Climer. "Scott Luth, now head of the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce, started the
Batesville incubator while he was working there. Max Hipp, who is the state president of MEDC (Mississippi Economic Development
Council), was instrumental in the Oxford startup. Regional cooperation is a large part of the success of an incubator
system and there are similar regional cooperation opportunities in economic development here in the Delta."
Climer says that six basic ingredients to economic development are: industrial-commercial recruitment; industrial-commercial
retention and expansion; retail growth; small business/entrepreneurial development; tourism; and community
development (including the Mississippi Main Street program, education/workforce development and residential development).
Climer's main charge in his new position will be to promote job creation and other aspects of economic and community
development throughout Sunflower County.
"I'm just extremely excited about the present and the future of Sunflower County," says Climer. DBJ
