Tommy Kurtz has worked in economic development in Louisiana for over 20 years, holding positions at Louisiana Economic Development and now at LEO, LLC. He has focused on retaining and attracting businesses through customer service, site selection assistance, and helping the state improve its business climate and workforce training. One of his biggest achievements was securing Sasol's investment in a $16-21 billion gas-to-liquids facility in Louisiana, the largest foreign direct investment in the state's history. Louisiana is now strategically positioned on the Gulf Coast and improving its human capital and industries like engineering to attract more business globally.

1. 60 the leader | September/October 2013
T
ommy Kurtz has been in
the economic development
business for a long time. As
former Executive Director of
the Business Expansion and Retention
Group (BERG) at Louisiana Economic
Development (LED), he has also been
deeply entrenched in making Louisiana
shine in order to attract and retain
investment. Kurtz is currently Principal,
Economic Consulting Services, with
LEO, LLC.
Kurtz’s interest in economic develop-
ment started early on with his degree
in Economics from Boston College
and his experience interning with the
Center for Corporate Community
Relations, a think tank. At a time
when Louisiana was experiencing an oil
bust and his classmates were going on
to pursue degrees from Stanford and
Georgetown, Kurtz decided to come
economic develOper B Y S O N A L I T A R E
home. He chose to pursue a Masters
in Public Administration degree from
Louisiana State University (LSU)
and ended up with a job in the City of
New Orleans Economic Development
Department. “I felt the need to be
on the ground to help the state turn
around. My internship had shown me
that corporations and communities can
work together, that they can collaborate
and make each other more competi-
tive,” he says.
Over the past 20 years, Kurtz
has worked in a variety of positions
and associations, such as Entergy
Corporation’s Economic Development
group, Greater New Orleans Inc., and
Ascension Economic Development
Corporation, all with the aim of mak-
ing Louisiana competitive on the
national and global stage. Part of the
focus of LED was retaining businesses
that were already in the state. “Existing
companies, small, medium and large
are where most of Louisiana’s economic
development has taken place over
the past fve years. My team of seven
worked with these companies, help-
ing to energize and improve the state’s
business climate,” he adds.
Competing on the World Stage
Besides retaining business in the
state, Kurtz also worked to attract
new investment to Louisiana. One of
his biggest achievements at BERG
– and one he says he’s especially
proud of – was securing Africa-based
Sasol’s investment in a gas-to-liquid
(GTL) facility. “Using Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) technol-
ogy and site analysis and working with
local economic development agen-
cies, we were able to convince Sasol
to invest in Louisiana, making it the
biggest economic development project
in terms of foreign direct investment
(FDI) in the history of the state,” he
says. Te plant will create 1,300 high-
paying jobs and cost $16-$21 billion.
Tere are other gas-to-liquids (GTL)
and liquefed natural gas (LNG) facili-
ties in the pipeline. Te state was also
able to reshore some of the previously
of-shored facilities due to the low
price of natural gas there.
With a focus on customer service
and a desire to go beyond the cookie-
cutter, one-size- fts-all approach,
Kurtz and his team were always avail-
able for businesses in need of assis-
tance. From site selection, to helping
make the right connections, to being
Tommy Kurtz:
leading louisiana Beyond the Bayou
to the Forefront of Global Business
“I felt the need to be on the ground to help the state turn
around...corporations and communities can work together; they
can collaborate and make each other more competitive.”

2. economic developer
September/october 2013 | the leader 61
a call away during natural emergencies
and disasters, the LED team’s main
focus has been to aid businesses in
Louisiana in any way possible.
As of press time, Kurtz is settling
into his new role at LEO, LLC, where
his key focus is expansion of the frm’s
services via its Economic Consulting
Services department. His duties here
are similar in many ways to his previous
ones at LED.
What’s up, Louisiana?
While Louisiana has always been rife
with natural resources, it has other
factors that attract business. With its
central location on the Gulf Coast,
transportation network of waterways, rail
and highways, and the imminent open-
ing of the Panama Canal, Louisiana is
poised to be a strategic hub.
In addition to its natural and strategic
resources, the state has been making
great strides to add to its human capital
and talent pool. For example, the admin-
istration put into place the ‘FastStart’
program, which customized workforce
training. Te state is going to need a
steady stream of construction workers
– 40,000 to 50,000 by some accounts.
And with companies such as GE, IBM,
Gameloft and EA Sports building facili-
ties in the state, Louisiana is also looking
to bolster its engineering and technical
expertise by focusing on community and
technical colleges.
Louisiana has made gains in promot-
ing itself via focused, pro-business eforts
such as new tax benefts and policy
eforts, both of which have been aided
by its low natural gas prices. Kurtz has
always seen the state’s potential—and
now the world is paying attention too.
He says, “Louisiana, according to the US
Chamber of Commerce, was the number
one state in terms of exports in 2011,
among the top 10 for business climate
in 2012, according to Site Selection
Magazine, and number three for inde-
pendent flmmaking in 2011, according
to Movie Maker magazine.”
Tommy Kurtz
principal, economic Consulting Services, leo, llC.
Keeping up with CoreNet Global
Kurtz has been a member of CoreNet
Global since 1997. He says attending
the North American Summits, making
contacts and networking have all made
being a member of the organization
worthwhile. “Te presentations at the
Summits have great content. At the past
few Summits we saw multiple sessions
based around reshoring as opposed to
of-shoring or outsourcing. Seeing the
research and hearing the experts talk, we
were able to be nimble and change our
strategy internally,” he says. It’s that kind
of up-to-date information that Kurtz says
helps advance understanding of future
trends and keeps him coming back to the
Summits and to CoreNet Global.