Open and Shute: Bigger and better businesses

After speaking with Omar Shute, it becomes clear the man is a planner, especially when it comes to his career.

He is in the middle of his MBA program, one he researched before signing on. The Ship MBA is accredited—very important to his choice. It had to be convenient as he is employed full time. And it had to be competitively priced. All of this was crucial, the MBA is a key step in his career development.

“I was always interested in business, even as a little kid,” Omar said. “I took one detour. I was young and thought I would go where the money was so I started in computer science. I quickly realized this was not for me.”

The path Omar is taking is not the usual route to the executive suite. In fact, Omar is in the business of creating and adding to the corporate world. In his first job after college, Omar worked as a business counselor and loan officer for the Capital Region office of Community First Fund, a U.S. Treasury-certified CDFI- community development financial institution. There he helped start businesses and “learned to be a lender.”

In September 2005, he made the move to the Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation (www.cumberlandbusiness.com). About the time he joined CAEDC, the board of directors reassessed the five-year-old organization and established goals. These are same goals Omar is working toward as the executive director, a position he assumed in July after working for six months as interim.

“First we work to keep companies that are already here and if possible help them to expand their operations in our area. We can now offer financial solutions to new and existing businesses in our work as a lender. And finally, we are involved with work force development – and are planning to launch a program to encourage and promote the hiring of young workers who are fresh out of college and giving them a chance to grow.

Omar points out companies are looking for workers with three to five years experience, yet colleges and universities, like Shippensburg are graduating good workers. So Omar and others at the CAEDC encourage businesses to waive the experience and hire new graduates.

To maintain our status, top quality professionals are critical. “The work Shippensburg University, and universities in general, are doing is critical to work-force development especially in the next five to ten years.”

It will take commitment on both sides for the program to be successful. The young graduates need to be willing to make a commitment to the area as well. “I use myself as an example all the time,” Omar said. He pointed out his commitment to the area meant it took him a little longer to find a job since he limited his search by geography.

Basically the business retention and expansion prong of the corporation is an outreach service. Taking a pro-active approach, more than 170 companies are visited each year.

But Omar takes the greatest pride in his growing financial solutions program. When he started with CAEDC, there was zero funding for this initiative. Less than two short years later, he has been responsible for leveraging more than $5 million in funding opportunities.

His days are anything but typical. Often hectic, usually exciting, his days are spent working to improve the economics of the region. He very proudly states he can see signs of progress as he drives to and from his appointments, meetings, and classes.

The three-prong approach is growing and works to bring quality to a whole new level. So much so, that one of the major areas, tourism, will have its own director reporting to Omar.

“We need to market our strengths, of which we have many,” he said. “It is all very targeted, appealing to certain interests like the car shows, military history, fly fishing, and antiques. The Luhrs Center is a great strength. So we created travel itineraries (www.visitcumberlandvalley.com) with this in mind.”

In his short tenure as executive director, Omar is cited for exceeding the outcome goals of the organization while still fulfilling its operational needs by the board of directors.

And this is before his plans to grow the agency with what he learns from his MBA.

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Omar Shute ’08

Hometown: Lima, Peru

Current Residence: Mechanicsburg

Major: MBA

Undergraduate: Penn State Harrisburg

Activities: Most of Omar’s free time is spent with his family or doing homework. He and his wife Kassy have a two-year-old son Alec and a 10-month-old daughter Gabriela.

Future Goals: “The MBA is an important piece in my career development.” Omar sees himself able to apply what he learns in the classroom to enhance his career. “I want to grow these agencies, products, and services into something even better.”