POCATELLO — Matt Hunter remembers well the six years Gynii Gilliam spearheaded economic development in the Portneuf Valley when she led what was then called Bannock Development Corporation, calling her tenacious and saying she would stick to a project “like glue” and do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Hunter, president and chief executive officer of the Pocatello-Chubbuck Chamber of Commerce, believes her success was found in focusing on what the business at the center of the project needs or wants.

“She meets with them, sees what it is they are looking for and helps them find it,” he said. “She sees their vision and then goes to work helping them complete it.”

Now called the Portneuf Valley Development Corporation, the economic development organization announced last week that Gilliam would once again take the helm as interim executive director, filling the role vacated by Miacate Kennedy I earlier this year. Gilliam, who retired last fall, has committed to one year while the PVDC finds a long-term replacement. She did not dismiss the idea of staying longer if the situation warrants it.

“I said let’s start with a year and discuss what is happening in six months,” she said.

On Tuesday, Gilliam met with the PVDC board to start laying a foundation for creating a 10- to 15-year plan for economic development in the Portneuf Valley. She said the initial discussions included statistical data about the area’s strengths based on largest employers.

“We had a really healthy discussion about key industries that we have,” Gilliam said. “But we also talked about what is happening on the ground. Sometimes the data misses things.”

Gilliam led Bannock Development Corporation from 2006 to 2012. Among her biggest wins during that stretch was bringing an Allstate call center to the Portneuf Valley in 2011. Although a shift toward remote work led Allstate to vacate its Chubbuck location in 2022, the project brought more than 200 new jobs to the area a decade earlier.

Her initial goal is to once again create the collaboration throughout the Portneuf Valley that helped bring success during her time with Bannock Development. She sees it already forming.

“All of these different pieces we have fit together, we just need to put them together,” she said. “Any project that you work on, that is one of the biggest selling points, is us working together.”

The pieces she speaks of include local governments, educational institutions and business leaders, both for-profit and nonprofit. To help foster that cohesion, Gilliam also said she is creating a larger committee of local leaders — what she calls community drivers — who she believes need to be part of the economic development conversations.

Larry Fisher, the PVDC’s board chair, said that drive toward collaboration has been part of the conversations since they first approached Gilliam. “Everyone is excited about moving forward and all the players want and are willing to collaborate, including the City of Pocatello, the City of Chubbuck, Bannock County, Idaho State University and the chamber,” Fisher said. “They are all working together to make our community a better place.”

The process of bringing Gilliam back has been ongoing for a few weeks, but Fisher said the foundation for several possible projects has already been laid.

“I can’t get specific about anything but there are already projects in the works,” he said. “She has been actively working already. She has been working on some things in anticipation of us coming to an agreement.”

Gilliam confirmed that conversations are already underway.

“Yes, we do have things in the pipeline and I am working them hard and so are our partners,” she said. “We are all working hard on these projects.”

She too would not get specific except to say she is referring to new opportunities, adding that she is also evaluating existing opportunities “to see if they are still alive,” or if new life can be breathed into them.