N.C. Department of Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco today announced three promotions: Karen West has been named the department’s general counsel; John Hardin is now executive director for the department’s Office of Science & Technology; and Susan Fleetwood is now director of the department’s Business & Industry Development Division. West and Hardin had been serving in acting capacities; Fleetwood was previously director of strategic projects for B&I.
“We are very fortunate to have three such talented individuals here at Commerce,” said Crisco. “Ms. West has been a real asset in addressing the complex legal issues surrounding the state’s performance-based incentives programs and other critical economic-development issues, including new programs related to federal stimulus funds.
“Dr. Hardin brings both an academic and practical approach to the Office of Science & Technology,” Crisco said. “His work on the state’s technology commercialization and green business funds, nanotechnology and innovation efforts and with the state’s Board of Science & Technology are really helping North Carolina move forward.”
Crisco praised Fleetwood’s leadership skills and abilities. “Ms. Fleetwood is an experienced economic developer who has worked on major projects, bringing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in investment to North Carolina. She also has led significant efforts to improve the division’s technology capabilities,” he said.
West, who previously served as deputy counsel for Commerce, has worked with the department since 2005. She has more than 20 years of domestic and international experience, including serving as assistant general counsel at the Overseas Private Investment Corp. She was an officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, senior associate in the Capital Markets Group at the law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, and deputy director of Financial Sector Legal Reform for the Harvard Institute for International Development, helping the Russian Federation create new financial structures. She serves as arbitrator on cases for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the securities industry's largest dispute resolution forum. She is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School and holds a Master’s of Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Hardin has been at Commerce since 2003, serving as deputy director and chief policy analyst for the Office of Science & Technology. As executive director, he conducts strategic planning and makes recommendations for technology-based economic development, implements technology-related economic development policy and resources, supervises the staff of the N.C. Board of Science and Technology, and directs grant programs that support technology development and commercialization. From 1998 to 2003, he served as assistant vice president for research and sponsored programs in the UNC General Administration. He is an adjunct assistant professor in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Public Policy, where he teaches courses on American politics, public policy and policy analysis. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Fleetwood first came to the Commerce Department in 1999. Since then, she has managed major economic development projects, especially in the financial services sector. In her previous role as director of strategic projects, she was heavily involved in the department’s major Web site upgrade in 2007, and in developing and implementing the division’s project-management system. She is working with economic developers across the state to upgrade the department’s Web site containing information about available buildings and site locations for prospective clients. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and holds a Master’s of Public Administration from N.C. State University.