Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield is stepping down at year’s end, and Gov. Kay Ivey has tapped a 40-year economic development veteran to succeed him.

On Friday Ivey announced Ellen McNair, chief economic development officer with the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, will take the post Jan. 1. She will be the first female Commerce Department secretary.

Canfield has held the office for the last 12 years, taking over the Alabama Development Office in 2011 and reorganizing the department as Commerce.

During his time, Alabama launched Accelerate Alabama, its first-ever strategic economic development plan and initiated the “Made in Alabama” brand as the state saw record numbers of international exports, investments and job creation.

The biggest achievement during his tenure was helping securing Huntsville as the site for the $2.3 billion Mazda-Toyota joint manufacturing plant in 2018. The appropriately named “Project New World” was sought after by several states with 4,000 jobs.

Canfield also made trade missions to 30 countries and oversaw the launch of the Commerce Department’s rural development strategy.

“Before I joined Commerce, I had a long career in the private sector, and I’m looking to explore what I can accomplish in that environment once again,” Canfield said. “I’ll make my definitive plans know a bit later. But this much you can bank on: I believe Alabama is a great place, and I will always be an ambassador for the state. It’s also a wonderful place to do business, and I will continue spreading that message just as I did for 12 years at Commerce.”

In a statement, Ivey said she will “forever be grateful” for Canfield’s work.

“Throughout my time as governor, we have proudly solidified Alabama as a top state for doing business, and no doubt, Greg has been a key part of that success,” Ivey said. “Together, we have secured more than $42 billion in new investments in our state, which has created 78,000 good-paying jobs. Greg will go down as one of Alabama’s best economic development heads, and he will be noted for projects like Mazda-Toyota and credited for branding the ‘Made in Alabama’ name worldwide.”

As a state legislator, Canfield headed the House’s commerce and small business committee.

Canfield said he is “honored to have made a contribution to the effort to improve Alabama’s future.”

“I am proud to have been a part of Gov. Ivey’s cabinet, and I am proud of the team of professionals we have assembled at Commerce. I am more confident than ever that Alabama is poised for a robust era of economic expansion that will transform the trajectories of communities and families across the state,” Canfield said.

Ivey said she has known McNair since her days at the Alabama Development Office. When McNair first entered economic development after attending graduate school in the Department of Economics at Auburn University, Ivey was the office’s assistant director.

“She sees past just the investment and jobs numbers and knows that these results are changing the lives of Alabama families,” Ivey said. “Ellen has partnered with Greg and I to bring growth to the Montgomery area, and I am confident we will see success like that all over the state.”

During McNair’s tenure at the Chamber, she has successfully worked on almost 600 national and international projects with a capital investment of over $8 billion, resulting in almost 30,000 new jobs for the Montgomery community. She was the senior project manager and a member of the negotiating team that brought Hyundai Motors Corp. to Montgomery.

Former Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange described her as a “smooth bulldog,” while current Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said McNair is “tenacious.” Canfield said he knows “the momentum we’ve built will continue to grow in the capable hands of Ellen McNair.”

McNair said she will work with Canfield for a “smooth transition.”

“Economic development has been a passion and focus for the governor her entire career. The success of the state under Gov. Ivey’s and Sec. Canfield’s leadership is unprecedented. These will certainly be big shoes to fill,” she said. “The state of Alabama is blessed with many strong local and regional economic development professionals, and I look forward to working closely with them and the entire state team to continue Alabama’s smart and strategic economic development.”

McNair was the first female project manager at the Alabama Department of Commerce and the first woman Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) in Alabama. She was also the first woman president of the Economic Development Association of Alabama, the first woman to lead a major metro area’s economic development effort in the state.