Editorial: Chuck Goodrich is the right leader to boost state’s job creation efforts

We were excited to learn this week that Gov. Mike Braun has picked former state lawmaker Chuck Goodrich, CEO and owner of Gaylor Electric, to be the state’s next commerce secretary.

We like Goodrich for the role for a number of reasons. Among them:

• He’s been the owner of a smaller business and grown it to a larger one. In the 11 years since Goodrich came on as an owner of Gaylor, the company has grown from $135 million a year in revenue to roughly $900 million and from about 400 employees to 3,700. It now has 16 offices in seven states.
• He has been a member of the Indiana Legislature, which means he has the relationships and (we hope) the political savvy to navigate complicated economic development issues related to siting, energy, incentives and more. These are just as often issues related to geography or the rural/urban divide as they are Republican or Democratic differences. A former lawmaker understands those divisions.
• He is a key advocate of work-based learning programs — like apprenticeships and internships — which are a priority of the governor and legislative leaders and are increasingly important as more young Hoosiers opt not to go to college. Braun put the Department of Workforce Development — which oversees programs such as Indiana Career Connect and the state’s WorkOne locations — under the commerce secretary when he reorganized state government. Goodrich, who authored legislation to develop workforce learning programs and has created them within his own business, is the right person for this moment.

We also have confidence that Goodrich understands enough about economic development to help elevate Indiana in the national and global competition that is job creation. This is an area in which we think Braun struggled out of the gate. In his administration’s zeal to set itself apart from the work of previous Republican governors — particularly his immediate predecessor, Eric Holcomb — Braun sent a message that Indiana was no longer ready to compete for important jobs.

But we’ve felt significantly more confident of late that Braun understands that economic development is in part a competition and that you can’t win if you’re not playing. That can be unpleasant, and there are deals for which the result of incentives isn’t worth the cost. Indiana officials can’t make that call, though, unless they participate in the game.

Just look at the Braun administration’s aggressive push to bring the Chicago Bears to Indiana. We’re not sure that’s something candidate Mike Braun would have ever contemplated. But Gov. Mike Braun understood that attracting the Bears to Indiana could be powerful.

We think hiring Chuck Goodrich into the commerce secretary position is another key move. He’s qualified to drive programs and incentives to entrepreneurs who are looking for an opportunity to grow and become the next big business but also savvy enough to see that landing an auto plant that brings with it 800 jobs is also valuable.

IBJ named Goodrich one of its inaugural CEOs of the Year in 2025. Now we’re excited to see what he can do in this new post.•

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