When IAMC honors the life and legacy of the late Michael P. Hickey by presenting a special award during the Spring 2010 Professional Forum in Colorado Springs, the ceremony will do more than highlight the accomplishments of a dedicated service provider.

Ron Starner

It will celebrate the spirit and energy that defined Mike himself.

If you spent even five minutes around Mike, your life is better off for it. Mike spoke with a passion that is not often evident in our jaded world. He carried himself with a dignity and conviction that said, "I'm here to make this community a better place and IAMC a better organization. Why don't you join me?"

While others would bemoan their various misfortunes or decry their lot in life, Mike would just smile and stay true to his own moral compass, which always pointed north toward optimism, faith and hard work.

I was reminded of Mike's boundless belief in the power of industriousness to change the world when I interviewed a top official in Washington the other day.

John Fernandez is the new U.S. assistant secretary of commerce and economic development and administrator of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.

A presidential appointee, Mr. Fernandez is not your typical Washington bureaucrat. In fact, he's anything but. A first-generation American, he earned bachelor's, master's and law degrees from Indiana University before going on to become mayor of Bloomington, Ind., from 1996 to 2003.

Under his leadership, the city and the university teamed up to launch Bloomington's Life Sciences Partnership, which secured more than $243 million in private investments and created more than 3,700 jobs. He also developed a downtown revitalization plan that attracted more than $100 million in new investments to Bloomington's urban core.

Fernandez knows the real estate industry well too. Prior to his appointment at EDA last September, he led the new development and acquisition team at First Capital Group, a real estate investment firm based in Indiana. He played a pivotal role in expanding the company's investment portfolio across the region and country. He also served as counsel for Indianapolis-based law firm Krieg Devault. His areas of expertise included economic development and public finance and policy issues.

The one common denominator throughout his career is that he has always worked hard to improve the community where he's lived and raise the standard of living of the people he's served.

Now that he's in Washington, his mission hasn't changed; it's just become broader. Instead of being responsible for promoting economic development in a metropolitan area of 184,000 people in south central Indiana, he's now responsible for fostering economic growth in a nation of 309 million people.

February 18, 2010 (St. Louis, MO) - Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fernandez Promotes Collaborative Efforts to Spur Economic Growth in St. Louis Region After Chrysler Plant Closure. EDA Announced $1.5 Million Grant for Strategic Plan for Reuse of the Facility in Fenton. Photo courtesy of Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

Fernandez admits that his agency's $150 million in Recovery Act grants won't solve all or even most of America's economic problems. But he promises to be "effective and accountable in the money we do spend, and the 68 Recovery Act projects we have funded so far have all complied with unprecedented reporting standards."

He says his primary goal at EDA is to drive the development of what he calls "regional innovation clusters" — something he says cannot be achieved without support from the private sector.

"Regional collaboration efforts don't work unless the private sector is heavily engaged in providing strong leadership," he says. "They are the ones taking the risks, investing the money and hiring the people. We cannot succeed without their involvement. We need to hear from them in terms of where we should focus our limited resources. What kind of infrastructure do they need? How is their access to capital? They are an absolutely critical part of our effort."

When I asked Fernandez how corporate real estate executives could get involved in this process, he said: "Engaging at the state and regional level is critically important. We certainly welcome input directly into our office, but EDA works best by tapping into the network of public-private partnerships around the country. We don't look at ourselves as a one-size-fits-all agency for every part of the country. The best solutions come from the local and regional level. And the private sector is better suited than the government to drive some of those regional initiatives."

That's when the secretary reminded me of Mike Hickey, someone who worked tirelessly to make his communities better and more prosperous. Before entering the private sector and enjoying an extensive career with General Electric, Pillsbury and ultimately his own Hickey and Associates consulting firm, Mike served as an elected official on the Columbia, Md., City Council and in other community leadership posts. Mike also held executive positions in Maryland directing employment and training programs, as well as economic development.

As was normally the case with Mike, he could be found right in the middle of the action, only a handful of feet from the stage where Sen. McCain accepted his party's nomination.

You don't have to be a Republican or Democrat to appreciate Mike's zeal. A man who was married to his beloved wife Doris for 36 years, Mike never wavered in his commitments.

If Mike were talking to John Fernandez right now, he would undoubtedly pass along some candid advice to the EDA administrator — and the official would listen.

Both men have always been bound together by the same chord: an attitude of selfless service that says, if you want to improve the conditions around you, then it's time to get busy.

Mike, who served proudly on the Minnesota Host Committee for IAMC, was one of the reasons why IAMC held its Fall Forum in Minneapolis last September, and he will always remain a shining example of how much good one life can accomplish.

There are more "Mikes" out there than you may realize. "I meet folks every day who are doing tremendous work all over the country," Fernandez says. "A great deal of foundational work on regional collaboration is going on all over America. Those foundations are out there; we just need to build on them.

"We need to foster more of that kind of investment," he adds. "If we do that, we will see long-term success." Somehow, I can picture Mike nodding his head and saying, "Amen."