Lead Development Team to build financial and team capacity for serving youth in emerging and unserved areas while positioning Big Brothers Big Sisters Suncoast in the region as an exemplary non-for-profit organization.

The Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County is thrilled to welcome its new Director of Investor Relations, Erik Zimmer. As a public/private partnership with a mission to grow, diversify and sustain the economy of Sarasota County while enhancing its unique natural and cultural environment, the EDC of Sarasota County collaborates with its stakeholders to strengthen and create more resiliency in the local economy.In his role, Zimmer will recruit new and retain existing private industry investors in the EDC of Sarasota County and serve as a point person in managing those relationships. He will also be responsible for developing diverse revenue streams for the organization and creating meaningful opportunities for engagement in the mission.

Director, Strategic Accounts with Trident Solutions, Inc, a portfolio company of River Associates, focused on developing strong relationships and purchasing capacity for both Distributors and End-Users in our Electric, Telecommunications, Cablevision (ETC) markets.Introduced key customers to added portfolio options through our expanding product lines and grew assigned account base by over 300% during first six months in role. Utilize a consultative sales process to ensure I understand our customers supply-chain philosophy, buying expectations/needs and QOS metrics.Collaborate internally with Marketing and Brand Ambassador teams to deliver additional podcast and social media engagement materials further developing the new Trident brand.Travel extensively to client sites and conferences to ensure a balance between in-person client meetings and voice/video conferences.

2013-2017Pivoted successful operations and business development career to public service role to turn around city finances and operations after bankruptcy and investigation by FBI, attorney general, and Texas Rangers, and indictment of former CFO. 95 staff in 7 departments, $14M budget.• Transformed multi-year operating losses, $9.8M debt, and $0 cash reserves into budgetary surpluses, $10M in cash, and 43% debt reduction to $5.6M in 4 years on $14M per year budget.• Brought city services back to pre-trouble levels, and implemented repair program to fix 5+-years of road neglect, addressing residents' #1 complaint, and upgrading 12.5% of city roads annually with ~5% annual road budget increase.• Reformed payroll procedures, eliminated illegal payroll advances, and instituted thorough forensic audit of 8 years of payroll records, obtaining reimbursement for all illegal advances, and satisfying FBI investigation.• Led collaborative effort by city officials, University of Texas, and community to create new strategic vision, identify strategic needs, and impose financial and operational controls to build up funds for much-needed programs.2019-2021Asked by city council to return in 2019 to continue financial and operational turnaround after replacement lost ground, rebuilding leadership, increasing cash reserves to $12M and asset values by 8%, and further cutting debt.• Repeatedly praised by City Council for excellence of results and outstanding leadership in continuing transformation from bankruptcy and criminal investigation to financial health, clean audits, and reinvigorated program of city services.• Made business case to win city council approval for utility bill assistance program after 2021 ice storm and Covid cut incomes and skyrocketed electricity costs, ensuring heat and power to thousands during exceptionally cold winter.

Recruited to lead transition of fiber optics business after CenturyLink acquisition of Level 3 Networks and sale of fiber assets to UPN, and grow customer base in New Mexico market. Revenue target of $10M, 9-person sales team.• Retrained sales team and led it in capture of recurring $4.3M in annual sales in NM market, and brought in 115 new enterprise accounts with aggregate $485K in yearly sales in highly competitive market.• Negotiated $800K annual contract with City of Albuquerque, taking business from well-entrenched competitor, with contract generating interest and business switch from other major institutional clients.

Recruited to grow Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming territory, promoted to turn around and stabilize Florida market after 2009 acquisition of Embarq. Managed teams up to 1,000 with sales responsibility of $670M in Florida territory.• Transformed Colorado territory sales performance, retraining team to turn 2006 result of 68% of target to 143% of target by end of 2007, and taking territory from last place to first out of 11 sales territories nationwide.• Reversed Colorado market customer decline and improved overall KPI values by 10% by boosting operations and engineering collaboration with sales efforts, addressing quality problems, and accelerating service delivery.• Co-negotiated urgent new union contract after disagreements over benefit cuts and performance monitoring by adjudicating equitable adjustments of benefits, productivity metrics, and wage scales, avoiding dangerous strike.• Directed smooth integration of newly acquired Embarq with CenturyLink products and operations in greatly expanded Florida market, putting company into competitive position to acquire and integrate Qwest in 2010.• Turned around DSL customer decline in Florida, transforming 3% per year customer loss into 2% year-over-year gain, and captured over 160K new high-speed internet customers between 2009 and 2010.

* Led over 300-member Network Services team in New Mexico across three key departments: central-office operations, design engineering and call center operations.* Analyzed expenses and financial reports to develop effective operational policies and budgets, resulting in 15% increase in profits.* Led complex business transformation projects in high technical areas, including development of work plans, product development and support, customer training and user experience. Implementation of new tactics allowed us to increase productivity by 10%.* Reorganized DSL deployment by realigning production, maintenance, and engineering requirements to meet financial targets.* Increased revenue by 25% through developing and managing strategic business plans.Enhanced customer satisfaction ratings annually by resolving technical and account issues efficiently.Implemented proven tactics to boost productivity by 10% and support the organizational mission.* Approved operational policies, procedures and standards while continuously evaluating staff to measure performance benchmarks.