Pasco EDC head to retire

LUTZ -- After five years on the job, Pasco Economic Development Council CEO John Hagen says he's ready to retire.

Hagen, who has worked in economic development in four states, told the Pasco County board's executive committee he would not renew a work agreement that expired earlier this month, but would stay on long enough to help his replacement get settled in.

“I have been debating the question of when to retire for some time,” Hagen says, in a release. “Working for the Pasco Economic Development Council is, without a doubt, the most interesting job I have ever held. However, recent changes in my family and personal situation have made me realize that it is time to make the transition.”

Hagen was hired in January 2010, after working as the director of economic development for Surprise, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb. By then, he had spent 30 years in economic development.

Lex Smith, the current board chairman, says his executive committee is working out a transition plan, and that a firm retirement date has not been set.

“He has offered us a lot of flexibility, and is personally concerned about making a smooth transition,” Smith says of Hagen, in a statement.

Hagen replaced former EDC head Mary Jane Stanley, who resigned in 2009. By the time Stanley departed, Pasco had celebrated two big coups. One was a new location for global investment management firm T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. that would have added 1,600 jobs. Another project was a similar office complex for Raymond James Financial. Both projects -- ultimately delayed or abandoned -- were lured to the county from economic incentives spearheaded by the Pasco EDC.