Taste of home brew leads to job heading county economic development
Andrew Harton can trace the path to his new job as Sussex County economic development director to his first taste of craft beer in 2010 during his junior year at the University of Delaware.
“I had a friend who was into craft beer,” Harton recalled July 31, the day before he became the head of the county economic development program. “At the time, I had never tried it. I said to my friend, ‘I wonder how they make beer?’”
His friend said it was homemade. So Harton took up the hobby of home brewing and enjoyed it.
As he worked toward his bachelor’s degree, the beer-brewing industry was his introduction to the business world.
“Economic development is interesting,” Harton said. “You don’t go to college and major in economic development. Everybody in economic development starts in something else.”
He took a job waiting tables at Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant in Newark while still in college. Within a year of graduating in 2011, he transferred to a job in the company’s brewing operation in Wilmington, where he worked for four years, becoming lead brewer.
Harton later worked for Big Oyster Brewery in Lewes as director of brewing operations from May 2015 to February 2022, when he received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Delaware, completing a program he began in May 2019.
After graduation, he was working as a brewery business consultant for La Vida Hospitality Group, owner of Crooked Hammock Brewery in Lewes, when he came across an advertisement for a finance job with the Delaware Division of Small Business.
“What was really cool was that I learned that what the Division of Small Business does is a lot of economic development,” Harton said. “It was exactly what I was looking for. It’s having an impact. It’s helping Delawareans.”
He worked as director of business finance at the agency for two years, helping administer state economic development programs. In February, he took a job as economic development manager for Sussex County, in preparation to take the lead role in the office.
Bill Pfaff, the county’s director of economic development for the past eight years, worked with Harton to prepare him for the transition.
Pfaff retired July 31. County council appointed Harton July 29, to take the director job beginning Aug. 1.
“He’s got business experience,” Pfaff said. “He’s got finance experience. He’s a great listener, and he’s smart. I couldn’t ask for a better person to take this spot. The county is lucky that they got him. He’s going to work hard. He’s going to take this office to the next level.”
Sussex County Council President Douglas Hudson said he looks forward to working with Harton, and thanked Pfaff for his dedicated service and efforts to grow the county’s economy, according to a news release from the county.
“Bill has made Sussex County an indispensable part of the economic development conversation, and we can’t thank him enough,” Hudson said. “We now look to Andrew, with his vast contacts and hands-on experience, to carry us forward.”
Harton said he was fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from Pfaff.
“I was lucky to come in this position and work with Bill for six months and get a smooth handoff,” Harton said. “We’ve been out beating the streets. We have some prospects on the horizon.”
He said he plans to build on the successes of the office.
“I don’t want to start over from scratch for the sake of doing it,” Harton said
His immediate goals are finding the right mix of new tenants for the Delaware Coastal Business Park that will bring quality jobs, using the $24 million low-interest loan program that Pfaff built before his departure, and expanding the kitchen incubator that Pfaff created at Delaware Technical Community College campus in Georgetown.
The Sussex County job is a return to Harton’s family roots. His grandfather on his father’s side worked at the DuPont nylon plant in Seaford, where his father was raised. Harton lives in Lewes with his wife, Maria, and son, Theo. The family moved there in 2015, and Andrew Harton’s parents followed the next year.
Harton said he has many memories of visiting the county.
“We used to vacation every year, the standard vacation at the beaches, usually Rehoboth … and sometimes Bethany Beach,” he said.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
