STUART, VA – On February 1, 2007, Mike Burnette became one of Virginia’s youngest county administrators as he took on the leadership of Patrick County.

"I love Patrick County," says Burnette, 32. "When I went off to study at UVA, I dreamed of coming back here to work."

Burnette didn’t have to wait long. Even before he’d finished his undergraduate degree in business administration and marketing, he was hired as county economic development director. From February to May 1996, Burnette spent his weekends commuting back home to do the job.

"I was at the right place at the right time," he says. "They needed someone young and aggressive who knew Patrick County."

Burnette took on the additional role of assistant county administrator in 2004 and knows Anderson & Associates through work on the county’s GIS system and other projects. He expects a smooth transition as he steps into county administrator Regena Handy’s job in 2007.

"Economic development will still be an important focus," he says. Long dependent on the textile, timber and tobacco industries, the people of Patrick County were hit hard by the rapid decline in those sectors. As the economy shifted, people were laid off and plants closed. During Burnette’s tenure, county unemployment has moved as high as 10.0% in July 2002, but has dropped to 3.4% in the latest released numbers.

Among the major coups in which he participated is the arrival of Wal-Mart, Stuart Forest Products’ county-brokered purchase of the vacant Nevamar particleboard plant, and the arrival this fall of Results Global Services’ high-paying call center. Together, these businesses put about 525 people back to work.

Results Global has increased its hiring goals twice since announcing its intention to locate in Patrick County. According to Burnette, the insurance-customer service center is extremely pleased with the work ethic, reliability, and skill-level of its Patrick County workforce. "It has already become a showcase center for this global company," he says.

Now that Patrick County is back on solid economic footing, it is looking to the next level of economic development in the information age. Last spring it received $40,000 from the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission for the design of a wireless broadband system, to provide inexpensive high-speed Internet capabilities to about 90% of the Patrick residents by the end of 2007. "It will allow us to be more competitive in attracting technology businesses and give us towers that could be also used by cellular phone companies," Burnette says.