A professor of entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University hopes Gov. Mike Parson's new director of the state's Department of Economic Development (DED) will take action toward improving broadband for the state's urban areas.
"The DED is the lead in Missouri for broadband development and if you look at the places that have high upload and download speeds, it's in the relatively rural areas," said professor Jerome Katz. "They've got a private provider that's giving them leading-edge sorts of deals and cities don't have that state-of-the-art upload/download function at this point."
Michelle Hataway was named the acting director last week to replace Maggie Kost who was DED director for some two years.
The DED director is a cabinet-level post reporting to Gov. Parson. The department is the financing mechanism for the Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC), which co-funds start-up companies with private investors.
“The most visible thing that the director of the Office of Development does is try to bring companies to Missouri,” Katz told the St. Louis Record. “Nationally, they are constantly looking for companies that are looking to expand or move. The director is the one who puts together teams to pitch moving to Missouri. They also make arrangements for the state to forego the company paying state taxes.”
A DED-MTC success story, according to Katz is the startup Benson Hill, a food technology company in Creve Coeur.
"The MTC put in a few hundred thousand dollars early on, and since then, Benson Hills so far has raised $592 million," he said. "They've been in the news lately because of that. CoverCress is another MTC success story. They've raised more than $46 million."
CoverCress is a renewable fuels company also located in Creve Coeur.
Katz hopes to see Hataway decrease occupational licensing requirements.
“Missouri hasn't really done very much on that,” he said. “But there was a presidential order for the spouses of people serving in the military that lets them practice their licensed profession in states where their family is assigned.
Hataway previously was DED’s deputy director and a manager in the division of regional engagement for seven years, according to media reports.
“The programs under Michelle Hataway are going to continue pretty much the same as under Maggie Kost because most of the programs are set by state laws so what will be interesting is if she will introduce any new programs or make any changes to the existing programs,” Katz added. “Right now, there is no information on if there is going to be any of that.”