The Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency welcomes the new leadership of K. Michael Chen as its Executive Director. Mr. Chen has extensive experience in Economic Development and Public Administration management. He has served the cities of Fort Lauderdale, Fl. Tampa, FL, and the Village of Oak Park, in Illinois leading economic development initiatives, creating economic development strategies/tools, and managing business attraction/retention initiatives. He also directed the Community Redevelopment Areas in Tampa and Oak Park. In Fort Lauderdale, he created the award-winning BEAMs Business Academy. Mr. Chen has been personally responsible for the development of over $5 billion of city-sponsored projects.
Mr. Chen has a long history working with global markets. His family’s business was among the first to import Japanese steel to the United States and supplied industrial hardware to mining operations, steel mills, and petrochemical plants throughout the Western Hemisphere. His family company structured project teams with large Japanese trading companies and major US engineering companies to provide turnkey project proposals (engineering, construction, and financing) for mega industrial projects around the world. The company was also an importer of bulk minerals from the People’s Republic of China to the United States.
As a former Adjunct Professor at Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH), he taught micro- and macro- economics at under-graduate and MBA levels. His classes were largely composed of mid-level managers from companies such as Lexmark, Long John Silver’s, Honda Motors, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing NA.
Mr. Chen started his career as a private sector developer as the Senior Vice President and Director of Japan Development and Construction Company (JDC). On behalf of JDC he was personally responsible for the development of a $7 billion real estate portfolio across the United States. He was responsible for underwriting corporate investments, structuring partnerships, and negotiating project financing. In his role with JDC, Mr. Chen also played a key role in securing the World Trade Center franchise for Miami (1988) and Consulate General of Japan in Miami (1992). He was a frequent keynote speaker at national/international investment conferences and is included in Who’s Who Worldwide and Who’s Who International.
K. Michael Chen joins the City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency in November 2020, and looks forward to strengthening the economic core of the DBCRA and catalyzing current and future projects.