St. Louis County has a new face leading a sort-of-new department that’s focused on helping communities prosper. Brad Gustafson has been named director of the Economic and Community Development Department.
To be clear, St. Louis County has long prioritized and had staff focused on these important functions. But previously they were combined in a larger department also responsible for planning and zoning responsibilities. In a county as geographically large as ours, as you can imagine, that was a lot.
During the last three years, the county has restructured, dividing Economic and Community Development (ECD) into its own department, separate from Planning and Zoning. Splitting the departments has allowed both to better focus and be more effective in their work. Earlier this spring, Brad Gustafson was promoted to serve as the ECD Director.
Gustafson has worked for the county since 2019 and most recently served as the Community Development Division’s Planning Manager. He has significant experience leading the county’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) efforts.
He has also led efforts to expand broadband access. Under his leadership, in just the years 2022-2024, the Community Development team coordinated more than $15.7 million in grants invested county-wide – roughly 40% of which was in Duluth and surrounding communities.
Now as director of the full department, Gustafson will lead a team of 15 that also focuses on partnering with communities to attract businesses or help existing businesses expand. That assistance can come in various forms such as tax abatement and other financing options, and cleaning up blighted properties. This team also oversees the county’s film production incentive program and manages the county’s enterprise Geographic Information System business services.
Investing in housing options – for households with various income levels – and growing the property tax base are obvious priorities, as are projects that improve quality of life.
Gustafson says he applied for the role because, “I love what I do and enjoy having an impact on people’s lives and helping them succeed. We have an amazing team in Economic and Community Development and I look forward to working together to continue to make St. Louis County a place where everybody thrives.”
His career started in home lending, where he enjoyed helping one person at a time. Now he can help hundreds of people or more through the various projects his department supports – resulting in added jobs, expanded housing options and other community-driven efforts.
“Brad is a proven leader with tremendous technical and communication skills, along with strong institutional knowledge of federal and state processes and public financing,” said County Administrator Kevin Gray. “He has tremendous enthusiasm and passion for economic and community development, and I am excited to see all that he will accomplish in this new role.”
Also cheering on Gustafson is Darren Jablonsky, who served as interim director throughout the planned restructuring process, while making it clear he was not interested in the role long term. Jablonsky will now return to his previous role as deputy director, where he will be able to dedicate more time to economic development projects.
“Darren has been an amazing mentor to me,” said Gustafson, “and I’m excited to continue working with him and our entire team.”
To learn more about the work of St. Louis County’s Economic and Community Development Department, visit stlouiscountymn.gov/ecd.
