Dec. 17—Mayfield Heights welcomed Jeremy Rowan as its new economic operations director at the Dec. 11 City Council meeting.

Rowan studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he received his undergraduate degree and then went on to Ohio State University where he completed two master’s degrees.

Rowan grew up in Northeast Ohio and says he’s coming to Mayfield Heights because he wanted to live a little closer to home and felt that the retail and office market that is in the city would make a good fit for him.

“Whenever there is an opening in the county a little closer to home you always take a look at it,” Rowan said. “The more I took a look at it I felt like it would be a good fit for me, and after meeting with the mayor and other folks around here that it would be a good fit. I interviewed and here we are.

“I think going into next year will be a year of really some baseline economic development work,” he added. “Understanding what businesses are here, reaching out to our corporate community, whether that is in the office parks in the city or reaching out to the clinic and the hospital. Listening to them and asking questions and trying to understand what their needs would be so we can really boil it down and see where the city needs to go.”

Rowan previously worked full time as economic development director for the city of Brooklyn. Before that he worked for eight years for the city of Independence, where he helped bring in Top Golf and oversee the construction of that area.

Now, he hopes he can find a new start in Mayfield Heights and bring the experience he has gained in the past to the expanding city.