Bobby Hitt Goes Buffalo Hunting
Scene: the decidedly uppercrust Poinsett Club in downtown Greenville. Well-dressed executive types, men and women, trying to appear nonchalant, standing in a loose line, as though they were standing in line at the Publix Supermarket deli.
These business and community leaders are all waiting for their chance to introduce themselves, to congratulate, to ingratiate, to press the flesh of Bobby Hitt.
Robert M. Hitt, III, known statewide as Bobby, formerly a top BMW executive, is now the newly appointed S.C. Secretary of Commerce. Hitt has his hands full with this job.
He knows it, and he faces it head on with humor and determination. "I need a bigger podium," he tells this audience of business professionals, "know what I'm saying? It's a big damn job."
That might be the understatement of the year. Hitt has become decidedly more optimistic about South Carolina's economic future in recent weeks.
Just a few weeks ago, he told the Columbia newspaper, The State, that he was somewhat pessimistic. Not so today. "I feel good about our economy, the economic indicators for our state are up, pay attention, you'll start to feel it, I am starting to feel it," he tells this group. "You can just feel it in the air. We're moving and we're headed in the right direction. Forward."
Hitt is proactive, aggressive, not reactive. It's in his speech. Example: "The way I attack things," is a favored phrase of his.
While some other top state executive might say, "We'd like to encourage and bring in big businesses to South Carolina," Hitt instead says he's "going buffalo hunting." For him, that means he's out to get the big ones, to lure and bring in the huge businesses like Boeing and BMW that create thousands of jobs.
There's no false modesty. He's a casual, confident speaker who knows his subjects, fielding questions about all aspects of South Carolina's future and current economy.
Hitt is known as a guy who calls it as he sees it. Today, he's speaking before the vaunted Greenville Area Development Corporation at the organization's 10th anniversary. Hitt has a recurrent theme – teamwork. "I learned all about teamwork and the importance of it during my time at BMW. It takes a team to build a car," Hitt tells me. "My job is to lead a group of professionals to get the best outcome for South Carolina," he says.
Hitt shines in the spotlight. He takes to it like a duck to water. At this speech, he is fully prepared to answer any questions thrown his way, responding to everything from future goals for South Carolina, to what's needed to reach those goals.
Hitt, 62, is arguably one of the only former journalists in the country who went from writing and editing the news to making it. And what a climb it's been.
Not tall, not movie-star handsome, he laughs publicly about his self-admitted lack of dignity – he promised this crowd he'd try to be more dignified than he has been in the past – Bobby Hitt is nonetheless one of those people you read about, the kind who, when they enter a room, all the air gets sucked out.
Born and raised in Charleston and graduate of USC, where he was named Alumni of the Year in 2006, Hitt is a poster child for reinventing yourself and diverging your career.
He was able to segue successfully from newspaper guy to PR guy to development guy at a huge Southeastern law firm, to corporate liaison, to top auto industry executive, to top state executive.
Hitt is reasonably well liked, but more importantly, he is highly respected.
Political strategist and business advisor, Hollis "Chip" Felkel, says, "Hitt was the perfect choice for this job. No one has the experience, the relationships in and outside of South Carolina as he does. Bobby has been a trusted partner for economic development in the Upstate, now he's become a trusted leader in economic development."
Governor Nikki Haley knew she wasn't getting just a "yes-man" when she appointed Hitt to serve as Commerce Secretary. Hitt told interviewers he made demands on Governor Haley before he even consented to lead South Carolina's economic efforts. "I had a process in place," he says, "that we agreed to even before I took this job, where the Governor spends an hour a day on tasks we ask her to do for the Department of Commerce."
At Hitt's behest, under his direction, and with his department's research backing her up, Governor Haley spends time each day cold calling businesses that could potentially set up operations, create jobs or spend money in South Carolina.
"She is fully engaged, she is good at it," Hitt says of Governor Haley. "She spends more than an hour a day on economic development. She is breaking down barriers. We want to make South Carolina successful."
Hitt tells this audience that his priorities include establishing and further developing the Port of Charleston as the premier seaport on America's southeastern coast.
The dredging of the seaport is a controversial state issue these days, but Hitt firmly believes, and as firmly advocates, the deepening of the port so that Charleston can become a force to attract worldwide shipping commerce.
Hitt tells me he also places a great deal of importance on the development of personal relationships that translate into increased economic opportunities for everyone involved. "That's the beauty of living in a small state, we all know each other. Here we have the opportunity to do business based on relationships. I tell business people, as does the Governor, 'if you have a problem, you pick up the phone and you call me and we'll work it out.'"
Hitt says this new job excites him because, "For me, it's an opportunity to bring together a variety of skills I never knew I had, it's an opportunity to make a difference, to make an impact."
When asked about his own political future, whether he'd follow Nikki Haley to the White House or if he'd run for office of his own, he slides away from the question, citing his family's recent move from Greater Greenville to a lake house outside Columbia, and the recent birth of his first grandchild, Ben. But he doesn't say no. And even if he did, you'd be a fool to believe him. After all, this was a self-proclaimed smalltown newspaper guy who has morphed his way to one of the top jobs in the state.