Luft reflects on his career of service with Cibolo’s EDC

For the past week, Mark Luft has not had to get up at 5:30 a.m. to start his day as Cibolo’s Economic Development Corporation executive director. He’s been sleeping in — as late as 8 a.m.

After almost two decades as an EDC chief and a career in urban and municipal development, Luft has retired. June 30 was his last day in the post he has held in Cibolo for the last 10 years.

“Maybe it’s time to just enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning, putting bird seed in the bird feeder, and reading a good book that you’ve picked up 5 or 10 times over a year and never got to finish,” Luft said during the final weekend of his career in Cibolo.

“I am going to miss the interaction with the professional group of people that I’ve worked with. I don’t what that answer is yet, but I know I want to sleep late. For a day or two. Probably ‘til 8 o’clock,” he added.

Luft’s crowning achievement in a career sprinkled with successful ventures was Cibolo’s July 2019 ground-breaking of AW Texas, owned by Aisin, a Japanese transmission maker that is building a $400-million plant in Cibolo that will bring 900 jobs to town.

Luft is quick to divert credit to those around him. Luft and the EDC spent two years working behind the scenes to draw Aisin to a 160-acre plot of land on the city’s south side, adjacent to Interstate 10.

“It’s all about trust and ethics. You lose the trust if you don’t have the ethics to protect that person,” Luft said. “You’re telling them you’re going to do all of these things, and you have to deliver.

“One of them is confidentiality. One of them is having the knowledge. If either of those two pieces is missing, a company will not locate here,” he added.

Dave Peterson was appointed to the EDC in 2017 and served as its board chairman. He spoke of Luft’s abilities as both a businessman and as the EDC chair.

“I first met Mark back in 2014 as we were exploring starting our restaurant, Mako’s on the Creek, in Cibolo,” Peterson said. “From those early days of planning through the current COVID restrictions on an operational restaurant, Mark has supported and advised us. He was there for us as we went from a concept on a piece of paper to an operating restaurant.”

Peterson was on board with the EDC for most, if not all, of the development with Aisin for AW Texas.

“The phenomenal work he accomplished was largely unseen, often due to non-disclosure agreements and other arrangements that keep the hard work of Economic Development out of the public eye,” Peterson said.

He said the EDC made a commitment to change the way the EDC deals with business and how it sets it goals for growth.

“We set about changing the previous practice of creating lists of businesses to pursue,” he said. “We were shifting the narrative from one of us pursuing individual businesses to one where we would be sought by businesses.

“A key component of this process was to shift from a largely retail only business pursuit to demonstrating Cibolo’s attractiveness to a diverse set of businesses. This was at least partially helpful in the huge victory of landing AW Texas led by Mark,” he added.

Robert Theis, current EDC board president, said Luft helped him to develop the ability to see growth and economic diversity in the businesses and opportunities for business around the city.

“He brought to the table outstanding connections with federal, state, and local officials,” Theis said. “Working with all the different departments, he was able to bring them all together on one mission, which was to bring this corporation to Cibolo.”

Theis said early in his EDC board career, he joined Luft for a “guided tour” of Cibolo, highlighting the business community.

“He showed me everything that he was working on, that the EDC was working on, and that the city was trying to bring in,” Theis said — including land the city had procured for a business park along I-10.

“At that time, it was a business park they were trying to do, where Aisin is today. (Then), it was just tall grass and a sign that said, ‘Cibolo Business Park,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t see it,’” Theis said. “And now, here it is. It’s reality.”

Theis said Luft’s work at the EDC is visible all across the city.

“The corporations, the businesses and the different entities that he’s (brought to the city) has just been outstanding. Between the I-35 Cibolo Crossing to now Aisin on I-10, from one end of the city to the other, you can just see his work,” he added.

At the June 23 Cibolo City Council meeting, Luft’s final meeting as EDC director, The Chamber President Maggie Titterington praised Luft for his years of service to the city.

“Mark has been a wonderful partner and representative for the city of Cibolo,” Titterington said. “To know Mark is to know about how much not only does he care about businesses but about people.”

She told of Luft finding out that a Cibolo business owner was going to have to close his business. “When Mark found out, the first thing he thought of and said to him was, ‘What can I do for you, what can I do to help the situation?’” she said.

She said Luft not only connected him with people that could help him, but he was able to land a job with one of these recommended contacts. “Now, he’s really successful in his new job, and it’s all thanks to Mark taking just that moment, to sit and talk with him and see how he could help.”

Luft points to a couple factors that helped make him a success in his 10 years in Cibolo and his prior seven years as EDC chair in Converse.

“It’s the whole foundation. Understanding community development, and sitting down with constituents and finding out what their needs area and what their purposes are, is essential,” he said.

Anybody that knows Luft knows of his admiration for Henry Cisneros, one of his first bosses in urban development with the city of San Antonio. Luft credits Cisneros for all of his success and his own ability to lead.

“When you look at the leadership that exists, they were huge mentors … in the Ray Ellison days, and the Henry (Cisneros) days,” Luft said. “But leadership is everything. Leadership is not actually supervising; it’s encouraging to go beyond and investing 10 percent of your time on a dream.”