If, as expected, the joint-venture Mitsubishi/Chrysler auto plant is won by Downstate Bloomington-Normal, one person who will be getting little public credit for his efforts on the deal will be Dan Rutherford.
As director of the International Business Division of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, Rutherford and Tom Tanaka, the department`s representative in Japan, began low-key lobbying for the plant two years ago–even before it was much more than a glimmer in Gov. James Thompson`s eye.
Nonetheless, that doesn`t bother 30-year-old Rutherford. ”When people in my hometown (Pontiac, Ill.) go to work at that factory, I`ll know I had a significant part in making it happen,” he said.
Further, he can`t deny that the contacts he made in his three years with the department won`t help him in his new foray into private business. He also made many contracts as campaign manager of former Illinois Atty. Gen. Tyrone Fahner`s unsuccessful 1982 election bid and as executive director of the state`s Reagan/Bush campaign committee in 1980.
Rutherford quit his Illinois Department of Commerce post early this summer and immediately took off for a three-month road trip across Africa. On his return, he established two firms.
One of them, Rutherford & Associates, is a consulting firm that aims to serve the rapidly expanding international business and economic development communities. ”Many powerful corporations and communities do not pursue the international market, due, in part to a lack of understanding,” he said.
The firm`s services include advising on cultures, languages and business practices in Japan and China and economic development plans for international investments in a corporation or community.
Rutherford also has formed J.B. Realty through a partnership affiliated with Rutherford & Associates. The realty firm will specialize in helping overseas companies with land acquisitions and development plans for locating in Chicago.
