COLUMBIA — Michael McInerney has been named director of external affairs for the S.C. Department of Commerce. McInerney will serve as the liaison between the department and the state legislature, and represent the department at outside events. He will also serve as special assistant to the Secretary of Commerce.
“Building and maintaining relationships is an important part of what we do here at Commerce, especially with the state legislature and our sister agencies. Michael will be an integral part in keeping those lines of communications open and helping us develop partnerships. His extensive background in the business world will be an asset here at Commerce,” said Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt.
Over the past year, Commerce has worked to forge stronger bonds with other state agencies, such as the S.C. Department of Agriculture, the S.C. Ports Authority, the S.C. Department of Transportation and the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, to help in furthering its economic development efforts.
Before joining the Commerce team, McInerney was president of Hart Telephone Company, a telephone and cable company based in Hartwell, Ga. He was with the company for more than 18 years, and also served as a board member of the Georgia Telephone Association.
Previously, he worked at Standard Telephone Company in Cornelia Ga., and at AT&T in Atlanta and in Columbia. McInerney has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Vermont and a Masters in Business Administration from Winthrop University.
McInerney is married to the former Salley McAden of Columbia. They have two children: a daughter, Skipper, who just recently married and a son, Mac, who is finishing his senior year in college.
About S.C. Department of Commerce
As South Carolina’s leading economic development agency, the Department of Commerce works to recruit new businesses and help existing businesses grow. Commerce won the Gold Shovel Award and the Project of Year Award from Area Development magazine in 2012. Also, the state was ranked first in attracting jobs through foreign investment by IBM-Plant Location International. Commerce has been part of recruiting world-class companies to South Carolina such as Boeing, Bridgestone, Continental, Monster.com, Heinz, ZF Group, BMW and Google Inc. Commerce also supports small and existing business, rural development initiatives and offers grants for community development. For more information, visit www.SCcommerce.com.
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