Longtime Fairfax County EDA Exec to Retire at Year’s End
Gordon, who has been associated with the FCEDA since 1983 and has led the authority since 1987, will serve as a fellow in the College of Charleston’s (SC) Joseph P. Riley Center for Livable Communities beginning in January 2018.
TYSONS CORNER, VA—Gerald L Gordon, Ph.D., the leader of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority for the past 31 years, has announced he will retire as president and CEO at the end of this year.
Gordon, who has been associated with the FCEDA since 1983 and has led the authority since 1987, will serve as a fellow in the College of Charleston’s (SC) Joseph P. Riley Center for Livable Communities beginning in January 2018. In that role, he will work with faculty, staff and students to support the economic and cultural vibrancy of the City of Charleston. He will also teach in the college’s Master of Public Administration program and will consult with institutions in northern Virginia.
During his tenure as the leader of the FCEDA, office space in Fairfax County grew from 32 million square feet to more than 117 million, catapulting the region to the second-largest suburban office market in the nation. Fairfax County now boasts 10 Fortune 500 headquarters, as well as leaders in a broad set of industry sectors including information technology, aerospace and defense, cybersecurity, data analytics, financial services and personalized medicine.
The Fairfax County job base also grew dramatically under Gordon’s watch—from 243,000 to more than 600,000. As a result, the real estate tax rate in the county decreased from $1.47 to $1.15 during that time.
“Throughout the past 30 years Jerry Gordon has been on the leading edge for moving Fairfax County into the world-class business location it is today,” Fairfax County Board chairman Sharon Bulova says. “No one is a fiercer advocate for Fairfax County and I will personally miss working with him.”
“On behalf of the FCEDA board, I want to express our deep gratitude for Dr. Gordon’s years of service,” FCEDA Chairwoman Catherine Lange says. “His visionary leadership propelled the great success that Fairfax County has achieved over decades, expanding our economic base and bringing with it high quality work and life to thousands in the county. We will need very big shoes to follow in Dr. Gordon’s footsteps.”
The FCEDA Commission will lead a search for Gordon’s successor.
Some of the notable initiatives undertaken by the FCEDA under Gordon’s tenure include:
• The creation of a division for small and minority business development to attract and retain businesses started by individuals of all backgrounds. Fairfax County currently has a large and growing minority business community with more than 100 companies each year named to the Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing entrepreneurial businesses.
• The creation of a division to attract and retain foreign-owned businesses. This initiative included opening offices in in global markets to reach businesses about expanding into the U.S. market. Today, the FCEDA has offices in London, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Seoul, Bangalore, and southern California.
• The attraction of the corporate headquarters of such companies as: Northrop Grumman, Capital One, Volkswagen North America, Hilton, Bechtel and Intelsat.
In 2010, Virginia Business magazine named him its “Virginia Business Person of the Year.” That year he also received the James Rees Award from the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. Since 2013, Virginia Business has tapped Dr. Gordon for its annual “50 Most Influential Virginians” list.
In 2015, the International Economic Development Council awarded Dr. Gordon its Jeffrey A. Finkle Organizational Leadership Award. He has also been recognized with lifetime achievement awards by the Israel Bonds organization, the Catholic University of America, and the Virginia Hispanic Chamber.
Gordon has also worked for Arlington County, VA and the United States Department of Labor. He was instrumental in creating the Emerging Business Forum and bringing the 1998 World Congress on Information Technology to Fairfax County. In 2005, the FCEDA was named by Site Selection magazine as one of the Top Ten Economic Development organizations in North America. In 2007, Time magazine called Fairfax County “one of the great economic success stories of our time.” In 2011, the Washington Post said that “Fairfax County remains the economic wunderkind of Virginia and in many ways of the Washington area.”
Dr. Gordon has taught at Catholic University, the University of Maryland, George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has consulted with city and state governments throughout the United States and around the world, as well as the governments of Poland, the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, and Micronesia. He has also served as a consultant to various government agencies, the United States Navy, businesses, non-profit organizations, associations, colleges and universities, and the United Nations.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from The Citadel, a master’s degree from The George Washington University, and a doctorate in international economics from The Catholic University of America. He is also the author of 13 books on strategic planning and economic development.