Eileen Mildenberger, who served two years as executive director of the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), has been named the county”™s director of economic development.
She will be replaced at the helm of the IDA by Jim Coleman, a marketing executive and former chief of staff to a Republican state senator from Putnam County.
Their appointments were announced Thursday by County Executive Robert P. Astorino at the monthly meeting of the county IDA board. The board unanimously approved Coleman”™s appointment as the agency”™s executive director, effective April 8. His annual salary is $115,450.Â
Mildenberger succeeds Laurence P. Gottlieb, who in February left his post as the county”™s economic development chief to become president and CEO of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. in Orange County. She has been the office’s interim director. Her new salary is $135,000 annually.
An attorney who practiced bankruptcy law before entering public service, Mildenberger spent 12 years at Empire State Development Corp. under Gov. George Pataki. She served three years as chief operating officer of the 500-employee agency. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, she worked with businesses in lower Manhattan as head of the state agency”™s business recovery division.
In her new post, Mildenberger, a White Plains resident, will act as the county”™s liaison to the business community and help businesses and entrepreneurs stay and grow in and relocate to Westchester. She will also oversee the county”™s tourism and film office.
Coleman, a Scarsdale resident, in December ended a two-year stint as chief of staff to state Sen. Greg Ball, R-40. Since then, he has worked as director of marketing, acquisitions and development at Unicorn Contracting Corp. in Garrison, a builder of affordable housing and medical office buildings, according to his LinkedIn page.
Before joining Ball”™s Senate staff, Coleman for four years ran Success Unlimited New York Ltd., a business consulting company in Scarsdale.
Coleman, an African-American, also will lead the county Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise, an agency within the county executive”™s office that promotes equality and eliminates barriers to obtaining state contracts by minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
“These moves strengthen our outstanding economic development team,” Astorino said in a press release. Mildenberger and Coleman “bring talent, experience and a continuity to our economic development efforts.”
