The Mill is a non-profit center for entrepreneurship and startups. John Fernandez is the center's new CEO.
(Holden Abshier, WFIU/WTIU News)
Former Bloomington mayor John Fernandez is the new head of The Mill, Bloomington’s center for startups and entrepreneurship. Fernandez plans to attract and retain new companies.
Fernandez served as mayor from 1995 until 2003, before being appointed by President Barack Obama as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. In 2023, previous director Pat East hired him to lead development for the Trades District.
“I was responsible for advancing the Forge, which is our second building here in the Trades District, as well as marketing the rest of the 12-acre development site to build this very robust, connected, energetic neighborhood that really helps nurture the kind of talent that we want to attract and retain here in Bloomington,” Fernandez said.
John Fernandez speaks at the grand opening of the Forge in Bloomington on Nov. 22, 2024. (Clayton Baumgarth/WTIU News)
When East resigned at the beginning of the year, Fernandez became interim director before being chosen as executive director last week. He said he plans to use his position to create a dynamic economy in Bloomington.
“As I assume this new role, we're going to continue to build on a super strong foundation that we have but actually elevate what we're doing to kind of a next level and build a much more connected civic platform,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez emphasized the importance of having relationships with key stakeholders in Bloomington, noting he wants the Mill to be home to a broad range of companies, not only startups. He said his past experiences have proven that relationships are needed to drive innovation and shape the future.
“We want to really bring everybody into this process, so that as we go through some of our initial planning and development and activity, we have people aligned behind a shared vision and one that we can act on with some urgency,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez highlighted that companies and employees face challenges coming to Bloomington, naming low wages, lack of housing and decreasing population. He said focusing on supporting startups and building professional communities like at the Trades District could start to address these.
“If you're trying to build an innovation economy, you know, looking for your sources of innovation and bringing them into the private sector is super important.”
He said that Bloomington is ripe with assets. Between the natural resources, the availability of researchers and employees and the proximity to an international airport, Bloomington is underperforming, according to Fernandez.
“Bloomington is a city with just incredible potential,” he said. “I think if we get our partnerships aligned, if we get our key stakeholders aligned, we can have a very robust economy—a growing city, one that has a lot of vitality—so that people feel like they cannot just start here, but they can thrive here.”
