AEDC chairman: Eades ‘only’ candidate

• Advocate business staff
• Published: Jan 27, 2009 - UPDATED: 2 p.m.

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J. Michael Eades, a candidate for the Ascension Economic Development Corp. presidency, will indeed be recommended for the job to AEDC directors on Wednesday, said John Scanlan, AEDC’s board chairman.

Scanlan said Eades will be recommended in a hiring vote when the AEDC board of directors meets Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the group’s Sorrento office. If selected, he would replace Tommy Kurtz, who left late last year to lead a new business retention and expansion team within the state Department of Economic Development.

Now a consultant, Eades has led economic development groups in Florence, S.C., and Halifax, Va., where he now lives. He formerly worked in economic development for a Georgia electric power utility.

Contacted Monday, Eades said in this morning’s Advocate that he’s highly interested in the job but wouldn’t comment further until the board makes a decision. Recently, Eades was a candidate to head an economic development agency in Albany, Ga., but that group selected a Bay County, Fla., professional from the Panama City area for a $120,000-a-year job in a county that’s the same size as Ascension Parish.