Janel Carothers
Senior Vice President Economic Development in Gulfport, MS, USA
Janel leads commercial customers, industry partners, and market development. She has over 15 years of experience in industrial real estate development and operations on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, handling $50+ million in transactions in the last five years. Her expertise includes shallow draft ports, logistics, transportation, supply chains, infrastructure development, and aerospace. Janel leverages private and government funding for optimal returns on investment. She holds credentials such as Certified Economic Developer, Maritime Port Executive, Certified Port Executive, and a real estate Salesperson license. Janel earned prestigious awards, including Top 10 Under 40 from the Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce's One Coast Awards and North America's Top 50 Economic Developers by Consultant Connect.
In 2014 she joined the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission as Chief Development Officer. In this capacity Janel was responsible for recruitment, retention and expansion of industry in Hancock County and a key advisor on product development. Under her leadership, over $122M million in new capital investment supporting over 500 of new jobs occurred. She led the region’s aerospace strategy for notable wins with Lockheed Martin and Relativity Space. Additional industrial wins include: Custom Commodities, SNF Polychemie expansion, Goodnight Terminal Services, and NAVAIR Foreign Military Sales.
Janel served as a Director on the Mississippi Coast Foreign Trade Zone Board of Directors, which helps major industries as VT Halter, Ingalls Shipbuilding, Chevron and others take advantage of foreign trade zone benefits.
Janel provided leadership to Hancock County’s workforce development efforts and was a key thought leader and funding coordinator for the achievement of ACT Work Ready Community status for the County. As a demonstration of her commitment to the program and leading by example she took the Work Key’s test, scoring a nearly perfect score and a Platinum rating.
Janel is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a master’s degree in Economic Development and spent the first 5 years of her career at the Harrison County Development Commission. She is a true daughter of our One Coast.