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Crain's Women to Watch: Turkia Awada Mullin
As Wayne County’s top economic development official, Turkia Awada Mullin’s bailiwick includes some of the county’s most high profile initiatives: the “aerotropolis,” the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the county’s Land Bank/TURBO program, the county’s film office, mortgage foreclosure prevention … the list goes on.
Mullin says she’s focused on business delivery of government services and how the county’s input can drive business growth.
Take the land bank program. A land bank typically accepts tax-reverted property then resells it to a viable investor.
“We took a step back and asked how to encourage the private sector to invest,” she said.
With the use of tax rebates for developable properties placed in the land bank, the program has become a powerful tool, she said.
Mullin said she’s also proud of the county’s growing importance as a location for energy companies, in spite of the region’s troubled economy.
Pointing to the growth in companies developing batteries for use in automobiles, she said that this is just the beginning of new growth in the state.
“There is a huge amount of automotive action,” she said. “We’re ready to take it to the next level.”
To call Mullin’s background diverse is perhaps an understatement: Reared in a conservative Middle Eastern family, she joined the U.S. Army straight out of high school and went on to earn the Army Commendation Medal. Attending college on the G.I. Bill, Mullin, 41, earned her law degree, specializing in real estate, and passed the CPA exam.
After a stint in the private sector, she was recruited about six years ago by Deputy Wayne County Executive Azzam Elder to join County Executive Robert Ficano’s team.
It was the right fit. A mother of two, Mullin was burning out on the 70-hour workweeks her private-sector job demanded and was eager to return to public service.
“I thought I would be serving this intangible taxpayer,” she said. “But then I realized that we have the ability to connect the dots in government. My boss firmly believes in adopting a private-sector mentality.”
Biggest lesson learned in the past year: “As you get older, you develop a greater appreciation for having a balance in life, and that life’s not a dress rehearsal. I’ve been to so many retirement parties, and the theme is that it went by in the blink of an eye. I try to appreciate the joys of life every day.”
If you could take a class, it would be: “Anthropology, the study of people. Because people are fascinating, and everybody has a story. You never meet a boring individual.”
Crain’s Detroit Business