TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A retired state Department of Transportation assistant secretary and a former adviser to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder are the finalists to lead Florida's public-private business recruitment agency.
Michael Finney, who until October 2015 was Snyder's senior economic growth adviser, and Richard Biter, who during his time with the Florida Department of Transportation chaired multiple planning committees, are slated to appear Wednesday before the Enterprise Florida President & CEO Search Committee in Orlando.
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Either Finney or Biter will then be chosen to appear Thursday before the agency's Board of Directors. The winning candidate is expected to be paid $175,000 to $200,000 a year to lead the agency.
Committee members during a 15-minute telephone conference call Friday didn't discuss what differentiated Finney and Biter from three other finalists.
Committee Chairman Stan Connally, the president and CEO of Pensacola-based Gulf Power, said all five were "bullish" on the public-private agency, which has become a favorite target for some influential state lawmakers.
Finney and Biter were, in that order, the top picks of the members of the committee after one-on-one telephone interviews over the past week.
Finney has also served as an assistant city manager for the city of Saginaw, Mich., and as CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise, an economic-development organization in New York.
Biter, who has 40 years of state and federal experience, oversaw policies involved with the Florida Department of Transportation's five-year plan and co-chaired Gov. Rick Scott's 13-member East Central Florida Corridor Task Force.
Enterprise Florida board member Dominic Calabro, president and CEO of the Tallahassee-based Florida TaxWatch, credited the committee for being more open than in past presidential selections.
"I think this was much preferred than some of the previous efforts that have been more inside-oriented," Calabro said.
Scott, who chairs the Enterprise Florida board and is expected to meet with the two finalists before the committee makes its recommendation, nominated the two prior presidents --- Gray Swoope and Bill Johnson.
Johnson, who started with the agency in March 2015 at an annual salary of $265,000, also received a bonus of $50,000 in 2015 and a $132,500 severance check when he left the position in June.
No bonus is mentioned in the job description, which calls for applicants to have "entrepreneurial" and "relationship building" skills.
Johnson stepped down after the Legislature rejected Scott's request to provide $250 million to the agency for corporate recruitment.
Incoming House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes, has signaled that incentive funding will continue to face hurdles and questioned the use of taxpayer dollars to help fund the agency.
The committee had narrowed the list of applicants from 101 to five last week.
The other finalists were Michael McGee, regional senior commercial officer for the U.S. Department of Commerce in Bogota, Colombia; Reid Dulberger, chief economic development officer for the Memphis and Shelby County Mayors; and Christine Adamow, a former interim department head at the Ringling College of Art and Design.