Michael McInerney to lead external affairs for S.C. Department of Commerce
January 14, 2013
COLUMBIA, SC – January 11, 2013 – Michael McInerney has been nameddirector of external affairs for the S.C. Department of Commerce.McInerney will serve as the liaison between the department and the statelegislature, and represent the department at outside events. He willalso serve as special assistant to the Secretary of Commerce.
“Building and maintaining relationships is an important part of what wedo here at Commerce, especially with the state legislature and oursister agencies. Michael will be an integral part in keeping those linesof communications open and helping us develop partnerships. Hisextensive background in the business world will be an asset here atCommerce,” said Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt.
Over the past year, Commerce has worked to forge stronger bonds withother state agencies, such as the S.C. Department of Agriculture, theS.C. Ports Authority, the S.C. Department of Transportation and the S.C.Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, to help in furthering itseconomic development efforts.
Before joining the Commerce team, McInerney was president of HartTelephone Company, a telephone and cable company based in Hartwell, Ga.He was with the company for more than 18 years, and also served as aboard member of the Georgia Telephone Association.
Previously, he worked at Standard Telephone Company in Cornelia Ga., andat AT&T in Atlanta and in Columbia. McInerney has a Bachelor ofScience from the University of Vermont and a Masters in BusinessAdministration from Winthrop University.
McInerney is married to the former Salley McAden of Columbia. They havetwo children: a daughter, Skipper, who just recently married and a son,Mac, who is finishing his senior year in college.
About S.C. Department of Commerce
As South Carolina’s leading economic development agency, the Department of Commerce works to recruit new businesses and help existing businesses grow.Commerce won the Gold Shovel Award and the Project of Year Award fromArea Development magazine in 2012. Also, the state was ranked first inattracting jobs through foreign investment by IBM-Plant LocationInternational. Commerce has been part of recruiting world-classcompanies to South Carolina such as Boeing, Bridgestone, Continental,Monster.com, Heinz, ZF Group, BMW and Google Inc. Commerce also supportssmall and existing business, rural development initiatives and offersgrants for community development.
