UPSTATE CHAIR OF THE EMPIRE STATE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION - DANIEL
GUNDERSEN
Biography
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On January 22, 2007 Governor Elect Spitzer announced that Daniel Gundersen will serve as Upstate Chair of the Empire State Development Corporation. He will oversee the Upstate Headquarters as well as eight regional economic development offices. Daniel Gundersen is a leading economic development specialist with experience in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Since 2003, Mr. Gundersen has served as Executive Deputy Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). In this role he served as the department’s Chief Operating Officer, directing operations that exceeded $665 million annually. Mr. Gundersen led Pennsylvania’s international business development office and its global competitiveness strategies.
From 2000 to 2003, Gundersen served as Assistant Secretary at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and was part of the economic team that helped guide Maryland into the top tier in the nation for economic growth.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Gundersen worked with corporate and public leaders in Southeast Pennsylvania to develop nationally acclaimed public/private partnerships that addressed critical quality of life issues related to jobs, education, transportation, good government and housing. He served as an economic advisor to Mayor Ed Rendell of Philadelphia, and was a member of the City’s Economic Development Cabinet during its renaissance. Gundersen received his B.A. from Hope College and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a Masters Degree in Governmental Administration. His wife of 21 years, Tamera is a native of Corning.
Mr. Gundersen's annual salary will be $160,000. The Department of Economic Development will contribute $120,800, per statutory requirements, and the remainder will be paid for by the Empire State Development Corporation. The Senate received his nomination as Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development on February 27, 2007 and his nomination as a member of the Urban Development Corporation on June 18, 2007. He was confirmed on October 22, 2007.
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