DEARBORN — Mayor Abdullah Hammoud has announced the appointment of Jordan Twardy as the city’s new director of economic development.

Twardy comes to the city with 15 years of government experience in economic and community development, fundraising, team building and project management. He most recently served as the Community and Economic Development director for the city of Ferndale, where he was responsible for overseeing all land use planning, permitting, code enforcement, tax incentive programs, CDBG activities and neighborhood and business development for the city.

“Dearborn residents will come to appreciate Jordan’s unique ability to transform ambitious ideas into workable realities and his track record of leveraging incentives to yield community benefits,” Hammoud said. “I look forward to seeing his imagination and expertise at work as we realize the full potential of our economic and community assets.”

During Twardy’s tenure with the city of Ferndale, the CDBG department brought in more than $60 million in community investment and more than 400 new housing units, including the largest amount of new affordable housing units since the 1980s. 

Twardy also finalized a 20-year effort to narrow Woodward Ave. in downtown Ferndale, a measure designed to enhance pedestrian safety and calm traffic, and oversaw the approval of a 171-space mixed-use parking deck in Ferndale.

Prior to serving the city of Ferndale, Twardy served 13 communities and three counties as executive director of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association (8MBA), the entity responsible for revitalizing the Eight Mile corridor through cross-sector collaboration and served as the board chair for three years.

“My experience taught me the value of building and supporting teams and having fair and consistent processes that incentivize outcomes that the community wants from development,” he said. “I am excited to bring that experience to Dearborn, supporting Mayor Hammoud in enhancing department processes to make them easier, fairer and more transparent. I am also excited to remove unhelpful bureaucratic divisions while bringing people together to leverage the power of development to meet the community’s goals, from transforming high profile properties like Fairlane Mall and Village Plaza to enhancing our business districts, tackling flooding and stormwater and providing resources to help residents and businesses thrive.”

Twardy holds a master of urban planning degree from the University of Michigan A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, with an additional certificate in real estate development. 

He also holds a bachelor of science degree from Oakland University and is a member of the American Planning Association (APA), Michigan Association of Planning (MAP), Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Michigan Economic Developers Association (MEDA). He had also previously been named a ULI Larsen Leader Fellow, a Leadership Oakland Cornerstone Fellow, a Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Future Leader and part of the 2016 class of the Oakland County Executive’s Elite 40 under 40.