Tom Morr to leave Select Greater Philadelphia

Tom Morr, who has served as president and chief executive of Select Greater Philadelphia since 2005, will leave the economic development organization at the end of June.

In an email sent Wednesday morning to those that have invested in Select, William R. Sasso said Morr told Select’s operating committee he will leave when his employment contract is up in June.

Sasso is an attorney at Stradley Ronon and serves as chairman of the Select operating committee. Select is an affiliate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Sasso praised Morr for his work with Select, which is charged with marketing the 11-county region stretching from South Jersey down to Northern Delaware in attempt to attract and retain companies.

“During his tenure nearly 100 companies have chosen to locate operations here, more than 11,000 total jobs have been added to the economy and Select and its economic development partners have generated as much as $840 million per annum in new economic impact in our region,” Sasso said in the email. “We are grateful for his ground breaking work.”

In spite of those successes, Morr and Select’s efforts were also privately criticized by those in the commercial real estate industry and economic development communities. Many thought Select took too much credit for attracting and expanding companies to the region and wasn’t as effective as it appeared.

The chamber has hired a consultant to evaluate Select and glean any changes it should make from suggestions made by those companies that have invested in the effort. It is also figuring out what qualities it is seeking in a replacement for Morr. Michael C. Carbone, regional president of TD Bank who also serves on Select’s finance committee, will look to ensure Select is in a “sound financial position during the transition period,” Sasso said in his email.

Morr came to Select from Washington, D.C., where he worked as managing partner with the Greater Washington Initiative, a similar regional marketing and economic development organization that was established in 1994. Morr joined the group in 1998 and, under his helm, GWI helped attract 87 new companies to the region covering Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs. GWI has also aided more than 1,000 companies in their expansion and location decisions.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal