Michael Gushue executive director of new RDA

Michael Gushue’s first order of business is to listen.

The executive director of the newly formed regional development agency hit the ground running Monday morning with the goal of reaching out to business leaders in the region. While he brings a wealth of experience to the table, Gushue recognizes that it will ultimately be up to the community as a whole to create the right environment for sustain¬able development. “In terms of working in a rural community, I think you have to take the time to listen to people,” he says. “It’s kind of a dream situation to promote the area,” he says. “We’ve got all the goods here. It’s a matter now of understand¬ing the market.”

Earlier in his career, Gushue gained experience government, managing and implanting commun¬ity, social and cultural pro¬grams for women’s, aboriginal, cultural minority and disabled organizations in St. Johns, Montreal and Ottawa as a senior representative of the federal government. “It’s like I’ve come full circle,” says Gushue. “This is where I started out, working with community organizations.”

As a vice-president of Marine Atlantic and Via Rail, Gushue later held executive positions within the transportation and hospitality industries, overseeing public affairs, government relations, marketing, customer services, human resources, and operations and business development. His responsibilities as an executive included man¬aging 2,000 employees, and budgets in excess of $250 million.

Now having lived in the local community for the past four years, Gushue has served on the boards of the Annapolis West Health Foundation and the Annapolis Basin Confer¬ence Centre. His involve¬ment at the local level has been an opportunity to gain more insight into the community and the potential for development in the region.

While the primary focus of the new RDA is business development, Gushue notes that the natural and cultural assets of the community are integral to creating the right environment for economic growth in the region. “It’s the community that creates that environment for business to prosper and for people to want to come and invest,” he says.

As executive director, Gushue will be looking for input from business leaders in creating a business development strategy that will build on the talents and strengths of the community, while maintaining a respect for the environment, history and culture of the region.

Key to economic success is the ability to understand the market and how to promote the region’s unique offerings. The first step, says Gushue, will be to identify what we have to offer and to clearly define what will make a stronger community. Ultimately, however, Gushue wants to ensure that organizations already promoting the province as a place to visit and to invest have what they need to sell the region on our behalf. “A big part of my strategy is going to be building alliances,” says Gushue. “We have to make sure that Annapolis and Digby counties are top of mind…. [but] we’ve got to give them product.”