A month after Mark Phillips quit as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to take a job with a former employer, the reshuffling continues at the huge state agency. Mark Lofthus, the director of business and community development, left Monday for a job at the Dakota Electric Association in Farmington.
Katie Clark, the commissioner who replaced Phillips, announced Tuesday that Lofthus will be replaced by Kevin McKinnon, DEED's director of business development. It's a promotion for McKinnon, who was in his former position since 2007. He had previously been an economic development official in Fargo-Moorhead. Clark is also creating a new deputy commissioner position in the agency. Robin Sternberg, who is executive director of Gov. Mark Dayton's Jobs Initiative , will become deputy of economic development. A deputy of workforce development position will be filled soon, she said. Before joining the governor's jobs team, Sternberg was president of external relations for the Great Neighborhoods Development Corp. She also served as business development and marketing director at Minnesota Public Radio. DEED has a $421 million budget and employs about 1,560 people.
