Ellen McNair to become Alabama Commerce Secretary

Ellen McNair will become Alabama Commerce Secretary on January 1, 2024 – Photo from Office of Gov. Kay Ivey

Gov. Kay Ivey says Ellen McNair of Montgomery will become Alabama’s Dept. of Commerce secretary when current Secretary Greg Canfield steps down at the end of the year.

Canfield has served in the position for 12 years.

“Throughout my time as governor, we have proudly solidified Alabama as a top state for doing business, and no doubt, Greg has been a key part of that success,” Gov. Ivey said in a statement. “Together, we have secured more than $42 billion in new investments in our state, which has created 78,000 good-paying jobs,” said Governor Ivey. “Greg will go down as one of Alabama’s best economic development heads, and he will be noted for projects like Mazda Toyota and credited for branding the Made in Alabama name worldwide.”

“I am honored to have made a contribution to the effort to improve Alabama’s future, and I know that the momentum we’ve built will continue to grow in the capable hands of Ellen McNair,” Canfield said.

McNair is currently chief economic development officer with the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. Throughout McNair’s tenure at the Chamber, she has successfully worked on almost 600 national and international projects with a capital investment of over $8 billion, resulting in almost 30,000 new jobs for the Montgomery community.

“I have known Ellen since my days at the Alabama Development Office, and I know she will be of tremendous value to the state of Alabama. She sees past just the investment and jobs numbers and knows that these results are changing the lives of Alabama families,” Gov. Ivey said.

McNair was the senior project manager and a member of the negotiating team that brought Hyundai to Montgomery.

“I am extremely honored to have been selected by Governor Kay Ivey for this very important role. Economic development has been a passion and focus for the governor her entire career,” McNair said. “The success of the state under Governor Ivey’s and Secretary Canfield’s leadership is unprecedented. These will certainly be big shoes to fill.”

Prior to working with the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, McNair worked for the Alabama Department of Commerce. When McNair first entered the economic development sector after attending graduate school in the Department of Economics at Auburn University, Ivey served as assistant director of the Alabama Development Office, now known as the Department of Commerce.

McNair comes to lead the Department of Commerce with 40 years of economic development experience and a handful of firsts. On top of being the first female project manager at the Alabama Department of Commerce, she was the first woman Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) in Alabama and one of a handful of economic development professionals in Alabama with this designation. She was also the first woman president of the Economic Development Association of Alabama, the first woman to lead a major metro area’s economic development effort in the state, and in January, she will be the first woman to serve as secretary at the Alabama Department of Commerce.

— Information from the Office of Gov. Kay Ivey