Montgomery County has a new top economic development official: Benjamin Wu, formerly a top adviser to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
Wu will take over as the president and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation Dec. 18, according to a news release. The group has been searching for a new leader ever since David Petr, its inaugural CEO, left this fall.
Wu is currently the deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the Maryland Department of Commerce, which he helped create upon joining the Hogan administration in 2015. He also previously served as a top economic official for then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich and in roles at the U.S. Department of Commerce under President George W. Bush.
Wu has also sat on the EDC’s board since its inception. The nonprofit was created in 2016 under then-County Executive Ike Leggett to replace Montgomery’s in-house economic development organization, in a bid to make the county more competitive with its peers around the region. The group’s board selected him as its new leader following a “national search,” according to the release.