After leading Amazon bid, Beacon Council President Finney will stay on through 2023
After presiding over South Florida bid for Amazon’s HQ2, Miami-Dade Beacon Council President and CEO Michael Finney will stay on as head of the county’s economic development agency through 2023.
Finney took over the role in 2017, and immediately underwent a trial by fire as leader of a tri-county proposal to attract 50,000 jobs and billions in spending from the e-commerce giant. The bid was attractive enough to land the region on Amazon’s short-list of 20 finalist candidates, though it ultimately fell short.
Still, in an interview, Finney said the process had helped lay the groundwork for ongoing collaboration between Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties and underscored the need for Miami-Dade to focus on talent development.
The project was “catalytic,” Finney said. “It pushed everyone to work together...120 people ended up working together to assemble all the data and information required by Amazon to have a response and proposal ready...It’s one of those big projects you rarely see.”
In a brief statement, Mayor Carlos Gimenez called the news of Finney’s staying on “fantastic” for the county.
Jaret Davis, co-managing shareholder of the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, P.A. and board member and former chair of the Beacon Council, said the Amazon bid had been transformative for the region.
“That bid allowed [Finney] the opportunity to rethink how Miami was marketing itself,” Davis said. “It allowed us to coordinate with other counties, but also generated a new narrative for us as an innovation hub.”
Under Finney’s watch, companies including Softbank, tech group Kaseya and consulting firm Slalom announced Miami-Dade office expansions, translating to hundreds of high-paying jobs.
Finney said that one of Miami-Dade’s strengths remains its relative affordability, especially when compared to even higher-cost metro areas like New York and Los Angeles. The issue is not one of cost, he said, but rather of the county’s wage structure, which has historically remained shifted to the lower-end because of its reliance on the hospitality industry.
But that balance is starting to shift, he said.
“The key metric is wages,” Finney said. “By bringing in higher wage jobs, we can have a positive impact on the entire economy.”
As for unfinished business, Finney plans to tackle two specific initiatives in addition to the Council’s traditional work of attracting and retaining quality jobs.
Both initiatives are aimed at connecting individuals from under-represented communities with high-wage opportunities. The Beacon Council’s Miami Community Ventures project is partnering with 40 established companies on hiring opportunities. The Council also is working with the Health Foundation of South Florida to connect small to mid-size businesses with major contracting entities like hospitals and municipalities.
“Mike has brought tremendous passion and extensive economic development expertise to South Florida,” Penny Shaffer, Market President, Florida Blue and outgoing Beacon Council chair, said in a statement. “Local business, elected and community leaders, and the Beacon Council Board and staff, are excited to be able to continue working with him to help solidify Miami-Dade’s place on the global economic stage.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2019 at 4:00 AM with the headline "After leading Amazon bid, Beacon Council President Finney will stay on through 2023."
