Career Opportunity – Lake County Community Development Corp. Business – Development Officer

Job Title: Business Development Officer

Reports To: Executive Director

FLSA Status: Exempt/

Funding Condition: Position is primarily grant and/or contract-funded and employment is established from year-to-year depending upon available funding and satisfactory job performance

SUMMARY: Primarily responsible for business outreach and development within Lake County and the Western Rural Development Region (Lake, Lincoln, Mineral and Sanders Counties) including but not limited to, developing and managing the regional revolving loan fund, overseeing loan packaging activities and monitoring status of business development clients, providing for technical assistance as required on an ongoing basis. Secondarily, working with regional partners to develop, implement and support economic development strategies as identified within the Regional Economic Development Strategic planning process. On average, 50% of the job will be working specifically with and on behalf of LCCDC; the other 50% with regional partners.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: Essential duties and responsibilities include the following, and are listed in order of priority.

1. As primary business development officer for Lake County Community Development, provides leadership to the organization’s business development and job creation programs, including developing/implementing strategies that result in building an active revolving loan fund of $4 million within 2 years.

2. Establishes partnerships with banks and other organizations as necessary to assist businesses with loan packages that may include SBA504, New Market Tax Credits, Montana Board of Investments and others and; where possible, return servicing fees and interest shares back to the organization.

3. Manages the local and regional revolving loan fund portfolio.

4. Works with other LCCDC business program managers to identify technical assistance requirements and business training needs and develops strategies to meet those needs.

5. Works with local development organizations (“LDO”) to develop and implement business development projects throughout the rest of the “WRDR” region, including Mineral, Sanders and Lincoln counties.

6. Where specialized technical assistance is required by businesses or other LDO’s that is not available through staff resources, identifies appropriate outside resources that can be contracted to provide such resources.

7. Assists the Business Incubation Program Manager to analyze options for developing business incubator programs both within the Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center and, throughout the region (“without walls”), reviewing other models and making recommendations appropriate to the local environment.

8. Oversees implementation of the state’s “Business Expansion and Recruitment Program” (“BEAR”) within the region.

Secondary Responsibilities

1. Provides general oversight over the LCCDC and regional website.

2. Procures and oversees contractors as needed to assist with website and data base management.

3. Provides input to and assists in updating and maintaining the LCCDC and regional economic development strategic plan.

4. Assists in developing and maintaining economic data and analysis tools. Assuring client information is appropriately tracked; grant and loan program reports are completed and submitted on a timely basis; and client files are developed and kept in accordance with all legal and applicable program guidelines.

5. As appropriate, represents LCCDC and the communities of Lake County at conferences related to community development, especially as they relate to economic/rural development.

Direct Supervisory Responsibilities: None (Provides team leadership in areas of business development)

Qualifications: College graduate in business or marketing plus three-years’ experience or minimum of 10 years equivalent experience. Professional certification in Economic and/or Community Development through a national program preferred, along with a working knowledge of economic and financing programs available through the State of Montana. Requires an understanding of business accounting principals, budgeting, community and economic development, small business finance and working with government grant programs and/or contracts. Must be very detail oriented and highly organized with excellent verbal and written communication skills as job requires interaction with boards of directors, public officials, community and business leaders, professional staff and peer networks. Must also have the ability to structure projects and write and/or help assemble business plans and grant applications.

To perform this job effectively, the individual should be very comfortable using computers and have a high skill level with accounting, database, word processing, contract management and/or spreadsheet programs and an ability to learn and adapt to new programs.

Physical demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Normal office hours are Monday through Friday between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Occasional evening or weekend work is required.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to travel by car and, upon occasion, by plane. The employee is regularly required to climb stairs, assist in setting up/taking down conference rooms, computers, screens, projectors, etc and must occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds. Specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision and ability to adjust focus.

Salary Range for Position: $35,000 – $45,000

Effective Date: December 1, 2005

Interested applicants are to contact the Lake County Job Service at 406/883-7880 or [email protected] our web page is http://www.employlakecounty.com