Spitzer & Patterson Announce Nominees

(Buffalo) - Governor Eliot Spitzer and Lieutenant Governor David Paterson recently announced the nominations of Daniel Gundersen to serve as Upstate Chair of the Empire State Development Corporation and Ken Schoetz to serve as Chief Operating Officer of the Upstate Development Corporation. Together they will serve as the top-economic development officials in Upstate New York. They will oversee efforts to recruit new business and support existing businesses in the North Country, Central New York, Southern Tier and Western New York.

“Dan Gundersen brings tremendous economic development experience to New York State,” said Governor Spitzer. “Paired with Ken Schoetz, we have the right team in place to bring much needed energy and focus to Upstate economic development through the newly created Upstate ESDC headquarters.”
Based in Buffalo, Gundersen will oversee the Upstate Headquarters as well as eight regional economic development offices, and will co-Chair the ESDC alongside Pat Foye who is the acting Downstate Chair.

Daniel Gundersen is a leading economic development specialist with experience in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Since 2003, Mr. Gundersen has served as Executive Deputy Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). In this role he served as the department’s Chief Operating Officer, directing operations that exceeded $665 million annually. Mr. Gundersen led Pennsylvania’s international business development office and its global competitiveness strategies.

From 2000 to 2003, Gundersen served as Assistant Secretary at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and was part of the economic team that helped guide Maryland into the top tier in the nation for economic growth.

Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, Mr. Gundersen worked with corporate and public leaders in Southeast Pennsylvania to develop nationally acclaimed public/private partnerships that addressed critical quality of life issues related to jobs, education, transportation, good government and housing. He served as an economic advisor to Mayor Ed Rendell of Philadelphia, and was a member of the City’s Economic Development Cabinet during its renaissance. Gundersen received his B.A. from Hope College and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a Masters Degree in Governmental Administration. His wife of 21 years, Tamera is a native of Corning.
Ken Schoetz has served in numerous senior positions in public service and as an attorney in private practice. He is a life-long resident of Western New York, and has government experience at both the state and local level, including serving for the last four years as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Buffalo Regional Office. While in that position he was one of New York’s representatives on the Peace Bridge Authority. From 1988-1999 he worked in county government including seven years as Erie County Attorney. Schoetz received his B.A. in Political Economics from Williams College, and earned his J.D. from the University at Buffalo Law School where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review.