Jane Edwards
Gerald Gordon, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, will retire by the end of December after more than three decades at the helm.
He will join the South Carolina-based College of Charleston in January to serve as a fellow at the Joseph P. Riley Center for Livable Communities and as an instructor for the college’s master of public administration program, FCEDA said Monday.
Gordon joined FCEDA in 1983 and assumed leadership of the agency four years later.
During his 35-year tenure, FCEDA has established a division for minority and small businesses and a segment focused on foreign-owned companies as well as encouraged companies to set up headquarters in Fairfax County, Va., such as Northrop Grumman, Bechtel, Intelsat, Capital One, Hilton and Volkswagen North America.
Gordon’s “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,†said Catherine Lange, FCEDA chairwoman.
Gordon previously worked at the Labor Department, served as a consultant to the U.S. Navy and government agencies and taught at George Mason University and the University of Maryland, among other academic institutions.
He is a fellow member of the International Economic Development Council and has served as chairman of the boards of various organizations such as the Foundation for Fairfax County Public Schools, Arts Council of Fairfax County and Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, in the past 10 years.
