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On the Attack
Lynda Weatherman tackles tough job of marketing Florida's Space Coast with humor, hard work

By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

In addition to the diplomas, awards and art collected during her overseas education, three small prayer cards decorate the wall behind Lynda Weatherman's desk.

She has her board of directors, explains the head of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, and then she has her other board of directors: St. Francis, for his message of kindness; Mother Teresa, because of her life of self-sacrifice; and Joan of Arc, for her example of another approach that could come in handy. "This one says, 'Kill them if they don't do you what want,'" Weatherman says with a laugh.

Humor is never far from Weatherman as she tackles the serious task of marketing Brevard County and developing its economic base. Now starting her ninth year as the Space Coast's top economic development official, Weatherman points to a legacy of new and expanded companies as evidence of the success of her approach to strengthening industry.

Some of the work has garnered official recognition, such as the 1999 Deal of the Year award from the Florida Economic Development Council for the 600-person, $44 million expansion of JDS Uniphase in Melbourne. Other efforts have been behind-the-scenes positioning, such as the growth of the EDC staff from four people when Weatherman joined in 1994, to 11 today. That number includes a workforce adviser and an employee dedicated to helping existing businesses, functions that are key to Weatherman's strategy.

When Weatherman took the job in 1994, she inherited a low-profile EDC in a county rife with geographical jealousies and internal competition. Her first task was to take her spiel on the road, telling the story of the EDC to anyone who would listen.

"It was like building a new company," Weatherman said of her first year, which she describes as "very, very, very tough." She remembers spending her first two Easter Sundays in Brevard at her desk.

Major layoffs at Melbourne-based Harris Corp. and a dearth of corporate relocations didn't help. "I had dinner with everybody in the county, I think," she said in her typical rapid-fire speech, punctuated with a joke: "I work for food."

Spreading the word about the county and the EDC would seem a natural task for Weatherman. Words like "dynamo" and "relentless" are tossed about when her name comes up. Her greatest strength? "Talking," said Dale Baswell of Hydro Aluminum in Rockledge, only half kidding. "Nobody can keep up with her."

Baswell, financial manager of the automotive supplies manufacturer, credits Weatherman with successfully lobbying the county for ad valorem tax abatement, a program that offers tax incentives for businesses expanding or moving to the county. When planning an expansion in the mid-'90s, Hydro considered investing at one of its plants outside the county to take advantage of tax programs. After Brevard adopted the benefit, the company chose its Rockledge site for a $7 million expansion.

Weatherman calls such efforts seed planting. Programs such as the tax abatement and a recent grant to bolster high-tech education and training aim to produce future economic fruit. "That's not a company relocating, but it's the best thing we can do to get companies to relocate here," she said.

Such forward thinking is one of Weatherman's strengths, said Randy Harris, immediate past chairman of the EDC. "She's always on her game," said Harris, area manager of key accounts for City Gas Co. of Florida. "As a result, this whole county benefits. Because what we don't get today, she's positioning us to get tomorrow."

That's the approach Weatherman took to salvaging what she calls the greatest disappointment of her tenure: The loss of a proposed Boeing Delta 4 rocket plant to Huntsville, Ala.

The loss, many believe, came down to Alabama's stronger financial incentive package. After the blow, Weatherman became part of a grassroots effort to improve Florida's offerings. Today, "we're a better state," she said.

Even though the Boeing loss still stings at the EDC, some point to it as a success in some ways. The EDC pulled off a complete proposal with cooperation from all corners of the county. "I've been here all my life. I've never seen that happen before," said Kim Meehan Agee, EDC managing director. She calls the proposal a turning point for the county. People realized "that's how it's supposed to work."

Weatherman grew up in Tampa, where her mother worked for the city and her retired military father was a deputy sheriff. She calls herself "a little worker," both in school and out, working at Winn-Dixie through high school. The middle of three children, she describes herself as shy, despite evidence to the contrary. "Don't confuse being loud with not being shy," she said.

After earning a bachelor's degree in social sciences/education from the University of South Florida in 1979, she spent two years teaching sixth grade in a small town in Georgia. She calls herself a passionate amateur in the profession, and says the experience helped her appreciate the importance of the task teachers undertake daily. "I think everybody should be a teacher or a substitute teacher before they end their careers," she said. "You struggle for a captive audience for seven hours, have to handle so many different things -- so many emotional things -- plus help them understand geography by the end of the day."

Unlike many who enter economic development through chamber of commerce or other professional avenues, Weatherman pursued formal training in her field. She holds a master's in economic development from the University of Southern Mississippi. After working in the field in Gainesville, she won a Rotarian Fellowship to the University of Hong Kong (she jokes that she couldn't afford law school), where she completed a second master's in international and urban planning.

Weatherman came to Brevard from Hong Kong in 1991 to work as executive director of the Space Coast Development Commission and later for the city of Titusville's economic development department.

"She is, without a doubt, an economic development professional," Harris said.

Today, her office walls are covered with charts showing corporate connections in various industries. The EDC plans to use them in a scientific approach to identifying companies that might benefit from a move to Brevard.

The depth of the EDC's staff now allows Weatherman to balance her work life with a newly found domestic passion: Weatherman has served as a foster parent for about a year. A box of clothes sits in her office, destined to be back-to-school gifts for her former foster children who have moved on.

She now cares for three boys, ages 4, 3, and 2. The youngest has been to nine different foster homes and when she first took him home, he wouldn't accept a hug. "Now, all he wants is to be held," said Weatherman, would like to adopt eventually.

"It just makes life whole," she said.

On the web: www.spacecoastedc.org.