Choose Worcester, the business-backed nonprofit aimed at drawing jobs to the city, appears to have a live one.
After more than a year-long search, and three false starts, Choose Worcester’s chairman, Sumner B. Tilton of the Worcester law firm Fletcher, Tilton & Whipple, announced that the agency had secured Alexander “Oley” Carpp of Connecticut to lead the agency. Carpp is expected to officially take the job on Aug.1 or Sept. 1.
Carpp was one of two finalists for the position, according to Tilton. The other was from Shreveport, La., and in the end that candidate found the costs to relocate too expensive. Carpp’s background includes heading the Office of Strategic Competitiveness at the Connecticut
Department of Economic and Community Development. He also served as director of economic development for the Town of Suffield in Connecticut, where he currently resides. Carpp also has an entrepreneurial background, having operated his own startup called Compucorp Inc. from 1983 to 1993.
Sell Worcester
Tilton said Carpp plans to hire two staff members, including a “second-in-command” to hold down the organization’s office in the Sovereign Tower while he is out pounding the pavement.
Choose Worcester was formed by $1.2 million in donations from 15 local corporations and six private foundations. The group’s goal is “to sell Worcester, and sell some of the resources that we have,” according to Tilton.
Tilton did not disclose Carpp’s salary, but did say the position had been advertised for between $140,000 and $160,000 per year.
