I’m sure Lisa-Patt McDaniel is a nice person.
As Strickland’s last Director of the Department of Development, the lifelong bureaucrat wasn’t exactly the most qualified person to understand what businesses need to thrive in Ohio.
Well, John Kasich has decided to go the opposite direction of Strickland and bring on someone who has made one helluva living creating businesses all over the world.
In a move of enormous proportions, billionaire venture capitalist Mark Kvamme is Kasich’s new Director of Jobs Ohio, the Kasich effort to streamline the Department of Development in an effort for them to better understand how to bring jobs to the Buckeye State.
Here is Kvamme’s bio from his current firm:
Mark works with enterprise data management software, consumer media and advertising services companies. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in 1999, Mark was Chairman and CEO of CKS Group, an advertising agency that pioneered new advertising strategies by integrating marketing with technology. Earlier in his career Mark was a Director of International Marketing for Wyse Technology, the President and CEO of International Solutions, and was a founding member of Apple France. Mark has a BA in French Economics and Literature from the University of California at Berkeley.
Compare that to Patt-McDaniel’s working history as an employee of the state of Ohio for her entire career.
With Ohio still in a major jobs crisis, Kvamme is intensely more qualified and with a salary of 1$, about 1,425% cheaper than Strickland’s Director.
Make no mistake, Ohio’s 9.8% unemployment rate is 81% higher than when Strickland came into office. In the most recent report, Ohio’s labor force shrunk by 20,000 people and has shrunk by 50,000 in the past year.
It will be Kvamme’s job to bring those people back to Ohio and into our job market. He’ll do that by helping Ohio create a business environment that encourages businesses to give the Buckeye State a shot.
Ohio. We’re back in business.
