As the Director of Business Development for Forsythe & Associates, Rod Forsythe combines his experience in economic development with his private sector sales and marketing background. He had 20 years of service with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and more than 20 years of experience in the private sector.
During his tenure with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, he was a Project Manager working with domestic and international companies considering the state for new facility locations. His project management experience included locating new advanced materials, aerospace, automotive, forest products, metal working, and distribution projects within the state. Noteworthy successes included recruiting GE Aviation’s $195 million capital investment and 242 jobs (included a new production facility in Asheville and expansions in Durham, West Jefferson, and New Hanover County), Spirit AeroSystems’ $571 million investment and 1,031-job production facility in Lenoir County’s Global TransPark, Turbomeca’s (SAFRAN Group) $50 million investment and 180-job machining operation in Monroe, and ZF Lemforder’s $29 million investment and 200-job automotive component production facility in Newton.
Additionally, he successfully recruited Altec Industries ($12 million and 300 jobs to Burnsville), Clearwater Paper ($260 million and 250 jobs to Shelby), Weil-McLain - SPX ($7 million and 103 jobs to Eden), and distribution centers for Liberty Hardware - MASCO (Winston-Salem), QVC (Tarboro), and Walmart (Mebane).
Rod also served as the North Carolina Department of Commerce aerospace representative marketing to the industry at major international airshows (Farnborough and Le Bourget) and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) events.
His private sector experience was geared towards sales and marketing as a manufacturer’s representative and primarily as a key account representative for Miles Laboratories (Bayer AG).
He holds a Business Administration Degree from Campbell University.
