Ken Hays reflects on five years as President and CEO of The Enterprise Center
By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA
Ken Hays says when it comes to his work in public service, he tends to dedicate up to five years to a job. The engaging and energetic leader of The Enterprise Center in Chattanooga worked for three years as chief of staff at the City, five years as President of River City Company, and five years as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Enterprise Center.
So, at least to those who know Hays well, it came as no surprise when he informed the Board of Directors months ago that he planned to retire. His successor – Deb Socia, President of Next Century Cities – was named in April, and Hays could not be happier, both for the organization and the city. Her announced start date is July 15.
“It’s a testament to what we’ve done in Chattanooga,” Hays says of her strong desire to pursue the position. “She runs in a lot bigger circles that I do.”
While Socia might play more on the national stage than Hays, no one would doubt the impact of his efforts to ensure that Chattanooga fully leverages the first-in-the-nation gigabit network in a variety of ways and capitalizes on its international reputation.
The Enterprise Center describes its vision in these words: “A better city and a better world because of Chattanooga’s unique integration of world class connected technology with a dynamic culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.” Those are powerful words, but ones that Hays takes to heart.
We sat down recently in Chattanooga to review his fast five years as the organization’s leader, and our first question was a simple one: “What has been the secret sauce”? There was no hesitation in his response – collaboration coupled with a plan and a great board.
“You have to get everyone working together,” Hays said. “We’ve had great local and national partners along with champions to execute.”
The other key ingredients were a strategic plan and a Board of Directors assembled around that plan.
“We have three strategies,” Hays notes. They are building-out the Innovation District, addressing the digital divide through initiatives like “Tech Goes Home,” and doing more research and application development through strategic partnerships. All three have significantly advanced during his tenure.
Hays is not the first leader of The Enterprise Center. The organization was originally created by then Mayor Bob Corker in 2002 to work on economic development, but it was retooled in 2014 to focus on Chattanooga’s innovation economy. Hays took the reins after successful careers as the Chief of Staff to former Mayor Jon Kinsey, President of River City Company, and many years as a real estate developer.
In approaching the new leadership role at The Enterprise Center, Hays says he was reminded of some sage advice he heard from the late Jack Lupton who told him Boards of Directors had three roles – hire the executive, help and support the staff, and fire the executive if that person doesn’t do the job.
“Mayor Berke and others recognized that you had to have an organization that gets up every day focused on the effort,” Hays said. In January 2015, the Innovation District was announced, and a request for proposals was issued to repurpose an existing TVA office building as the anchor for the District.
Nine months later, The Edney Innovation Center opened as a new home for CO.LAB, The Enterprise Center, co-working facilities, and a few small businesses. “You can only do something that fast when everyone is working together,” Hays noted, again underscoring the collaborative approach that has driven Chattanooga’s recent evolution.
That same year, The Enterprise Center also launched “Tech Goes Home,” the program that Hays’ successor had started in Boston. Of that effort in Chattanooga, he says, “No one wanted to spend 18 months to two years to plan on how best to address digital equity. The attitude was to do something now.”
Hays has collaborated with Deb Socia, his successor, for the past four years, and he feels he’s turning the retooled organization over to the right person to take it forward. He’ll still be involved in some efforts like the “Chattanooga Smart Community Collaborative.”
“Every job I’ve had I’ve loved with the exception of two years at the Democratic National Committee,” Hays says in his straightforward, “tell it like it is” style that also understates any role he has played. “Every accomplishment in Chattanooga the last 30 years has been about the community coming together.”
What’s next? Hays is not saying if he knows, although he does say that he knows what he will not being doing. The engaging CEO plans to follow Charlie Brock’s short-term path after he retired from Launch Tennessee, taking time off and traveling with his wife.
“Ellen (his wife) says I have my bounce back,” Hays said. Where that bounce will take him in unknown, but he’s too energetic to stay away from the action too long.
