Target Alpena’s new executive director is back in his hometown with an agenda built around recruitment, retention and expansion — three priorities he says will shape his work with businesses, developers and community partners across Alpena and Northeast Michigan.
Andrew Thomson, an Alpena native and former community leader in Chelsea, started the job in early October 2026. Tuesday was his second day on the job, according to The Alpena News. Thomson was photographed at the Alpena Chamber of Commerce building in Downtown Alpena as he began settling into the new role.
Three priorities for Target Alpena
Thomson said recruitment means attracting businesses and developers to the area. Retention means helping successful companies already operating in Alpena remain here rather than moving to other communities or elsewhere in Michigan. Expansion focuses on helping existing businesses grow and supporting development and housing projects that are already taking shape.
“Recruiting folks to our area, whether it be businesses, whether it be developers keeping the folks that have successful businesses in our area, not letting them leave for other communities or other parts of the state,” Thomson explained.
“Expansion, people that are here, how do we help them grow? That can be both on the business side, that can be on the development, the housing side. If we’ve got great projects, how do we expand those? How do we keep it rolling?”
Thomson said he wants to build on work Target Alpena has already completed. He described the organization’s mission as important not only to Alpena but also to the surrounding region, saying its efforts could benefit residents in the city, township and county as well as the broader Northeast Michigan area.
“This is an important piece of work for the community and for the region,” Thomson said. “What Target has done and what we hope to continue doing for the future is going to benefit everybody who lives here. In the city, the township, the county of Alpena, and even the broader region.”
A return to the community that raised him
Although Thomson was born and raised in Alpena, he has spent the last 20 years in Michigan’s lower peninsula. He said the opportunity to lead Target Alpena came at the right time and prompted his return home after a detailed hiring process.
“When this opportunity came up to apply for the position and interview for it, it felt like the right time to come back home and try and make a difference in my own community, the town that raised me,” he said.
Thomson said he went through what he called a “very robust interview process” before taking the position. As executive director, he said he views his role as helping guide Alpena toward its future while continuing the organization’s existing work.
Listening before setting new goals
Thomson said his first several weeks — and potentially the first couple of months — will focus on learning the area and meeting the people and organizations involved in Alpena’s future. He plans to hold face-to-face conversations with government officials, business leaders, community members and other partners.
“For the first several weeks, a couple months here, it’s going to be just getting to know everyone,” he said. “It’s going to be those face-to-face meetings, hearing stories from everyone, whether it be the government officials that we’re working with, whether it be business leaders, and just community members. Engaging everybody out there that wants to be engaged ... 'What do you like, what we’ve been doing?' 'What do you feel like we need to do differently?'”
He said those conversations will help identify what residents value, what has worked and where changes may be needed before the organization pursues new goals.
Development challenges ahead
Thomson identified limited resources and the need to catch up on development as challenges facing the job. He said Alpena can feel isolated and underserved by Lansing and other agencies, creating what he described as barriers to success. Part of his recruitment work, he said, will involve telling Alpena’s story and addressing that sense of isolation.
“In Alpena, we feel like we’re isolated. We feel like we’re underserved, whether that be from Lansing or any other agency,” he explained. “We feel like we’re always kind of playing catch up ... Whether it’s real or whether it’s imagined, we have those barriers to success, and we have to get over those ... attacking that feeling of isolation. That is where the recruitment part comes in. Tell our story.”
Thomson also acknowledged that local residents may view development as moving too slowly. He said projects often require leadership, business partners and funding or other resources to come together, and that progress takes time.
“It almost feels like in Alpena ... it’s the same everywhere ... but it feels to us, like it moves even slower because you simply have to put the pieces together, you’ve got to get the right, whether it’s leadership and business partners, linked together, and just getting the resources,” he added. “We do have scarce resources and so we’ve got to be as smart as possible as we can with those resources.”
Thomson said he is excited to begin meeting community partners, becoming more involved locally and working toward goals for Alpena and the broader Northeast Michigan region.
