A North Carolina firm has been hired by the Warren County Port Commission to help with the search for a new port/economic director.

Commissioners Monday approved hiring Greensboro, N.C.-based Jorgenson Consulting Inc. to assist in handling the process of hiring a new director.

The company’s fee was not announced pending completion of contract negotiations, and the approval of the commission’s action by the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

Jorgenson was one of two companies considered by the commissioners.

Commissioner Austin Golding said the company’s national profile and track record were two of the reasons the company was hired. He said the commissioners “searched their track record and that was something we were very impressed with.”

“They provided us a list of references throughout the country they had placed, and that was pretty impressive,” commission president Margaret Gilmer said. “And they really walked us through each step, from the beginning of the search, to interviews, to background checks.”

“They provide a lot of structure with the timeline,” Golding said.

Gilmer said the company will do the initial screening and background checks of prospective candidates, and the commission will be involved with the interviews.

She said the target goal is to have a director hired within 8 to 12 weeks once the contract is signed.

Port commissioners began preparing for a search to hire a new port director July, when former director Wayne Mansfield announced he was taking a position as president and chief executive officer of the Longview, Texas, Economic Development Corp., a job that pays him $138,000 a year.

The new director’s duties will be different from Mansfield’s, and focus more on economic development than running the port.

Gilmer said the emphasis on an economic development director was influenced by the results from an asset mapping by the Mississippi Development Authority that looked at the area’s strengths and weaknesses and indicated economic development should be the new director’s primary duty.