North Port EDC promotes first president

NORTH PORT — Peter Bartolotta has been named president of the North Port Economic Development Corp., a non-profit organization he helped launch in 2011.

Bartolotta, a business executive from New York who retired to the area 20 years ago, is the group's first paid leader, according to a release. Volunteer advisers and board members had run the EDC up until this hire.

“Peter Bartolotta has been instrumental in the NPEDC as a founding member of the group and has been spearheading the organizations initiatives, programs and day to day operation since it's inception,” EDC board chairman Robert Rosenberg says in the release. “We believe there is nobody better qualified than Peter in our area to oversee this effort.”

Bartolotta, who officially started his new role July 1, worked in management for several firms, including Xerox, AT&T and Pitney Bowes. In 2006, he founded North Port-based Acuity Group Management, a strategic consulting firm.

Bartolotta says the North Port EDC was born from the idea that economic development should be about more than subsidies and incentives. He believes there should be more regional partnerships to attract jobs and companies to the area.