Cleveland City Hall's Economic Development Department Gets New Leadership

Mayor Bibb tapped Joevrose Bourdeau Small and Tom McNair to lead two different development departments at City Hall, the city said on Tuesday. Credit: City of Cleveland / LinkedIn

With news that Jeff Epstein is departing City Hall for a new gig leading the Port of Cleveland, Mayor Justin Bibb this week announced new leadership for Cleveland’s economic development team.

Tom McNair will replace Epstein as Chief of Integrated Development and Joevrose Bourdeau Small will take McNair’s role as Director of the Department of Economic Development. Small was most recently the assistant director in the department.

In a statement on Tuesday, Bibb sold the two as proponents of the ERA agenda—actually building good, affordable homes across the city and nursing widespread development—the kind represented by Bedrock’s $2 billion neighborhood lined up along the Cuyahoga River and Bibb’s Shore-To-Core-to-Shore tax increment financing strategy designed to catapult more developer interest in the city’s core.

Both new hires “will carry the Cleveland ERA forward with fresh energy and a steadfast commitment to the communities we serve,” Bibb wrote. “Both bring deep experience, a strong commitment to public service, and the kind of collaborative spirit we need to keep Cleveland moving forward.”

McNair’s main task at hand will undeniably be tied to water: attracting and maintaining private interest and developer intrigue in Bedrock’s plans for the riverfront, along with the hundreds of millions of dollars surrounding the land north of Huntington Bank Field.

All while ensuring other city projects in the pipeline go as designed, from the $60 million renovation of the West Side Market to the $1.6 billion planned makeover of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.