JACKSON, Miss. – Entergy Mississippi has promoted two members of its economic development team and added two new team members to the organization. The company also reorganized the group to ensure a premier customer service experience to our large industrial customers and other businesses in the state.

The economic development team works to build and enhance Entergy Mississippi’s industrial customer base through recruitment and expansion strategies, community development efforts, site development, and economic development-specific programming for communities throughout the 45-county service territory.

Christine Pate was promoted to a newly created position as director, economic development and industrial accounts. Lauren Gurtowski is now senior project manager for business development, succeeding Pate in that role. Gabriella MacNabb was hired to fill Gurtowski’s former role as business expansion and retention representative for the company, and Jack VanDevender has been hired as a community development representative. They join economic development team members Stacy Lester, project manager for business and economic development, David Rose, senior analyst, and Lloyd Hood and Katie Robertson, both industrial account managers.

The team, led by Ed Gardner, vice president, business and economic development, works to help Mississippi communities expand and attract new business. They assist existing and prospective customers by providing capacity and timelines for new service locations and advise on available state and local resources, such as incentives and community and workforce development.

“Christine, Gabby, Lauren and Jack bring so much expertise and economic development knowledge to our organization,” Gardner said. “At a time when Mississippi is earning a national and international reputation for dynamic economic growth, they are well suited to work with existing companies in the state and others considering a presence here.”

As director of economic and industrial accounts, Pate leads a team that manages Entergy Mississippi’s largest industrial accounts and assists existing industrial customers grow within the Entergy Mississippi footprint. Her background is in both industrial recruitment and existing industry growth, and she played a key role as part of the core team that helped to attract the $13 billion Amazon Web Services investments in Madison and Warren counties announced in 2024 and 2025. Prior to joining Entergy in 2019, she held business recruitment and expansion roles at the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation and at the Mississippi Development Authority.

In her new job, Gurtowski works with internal, state, and local stakeholders to locate new industrial customers to our service territory, creating new job opportunities and private investment. Previously, she was the existing industry and business retention representative for Entergy Mississippi, assisting customers in growth plans. Before coming to Entergy, she was chief operating officer at the Madison County Economic Development Authority, where she assisted in location and expansion projects throughout the county.

MacNabb is joining the economic development team as the business retention and expansion representative, where she will work closely with Entergy Mississippi’s existing industrial customers seeking to expand their presence in Mississippi. She provides strategic support on utility capacity planning, construction timelines and other factors affecting business growth and operational success. Before joining Entergy Mississippi, MacNabb was senior vice president of the Greater Jackson Alliance, a regional economic development organization.

Prior to joining the Greater Jackson Alliance, she was a project manager in the global business division for the Mississippi Development Authority and served as the primary contact for the state’s foreign direct investment efforts and managed offices in Europe, Japan and South Korea. During her tenure, she helped create more than 3,000 jobs and facilitated over $1 billion in capital investment for Mississippi.

Stepping into the community development role is Jack VanDevender, who will focus on strengthening local partnerships, expanding Entergy’s regional presence and helping communities prepare for new investment opportunities.

Before joining Entergy, VanDevender worked as a global business recruitment and expansion project manager at the Mississippi Development Authority, specializing in attracting foreign investment from Europe, Asia and Australia. Prior to project management he served in MDA’s business incentives division, overseeing the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive program and supporting statewide business expansion, retention and recruitment efforts for companies evaluating Mississippi.

VanDevender began his career as an audit associate at Grant Thornton, following an internship in audit and assurance with Deloitte.

 

About Entergy Mississippi

Entergy Mississippi provides electricity to approximately 459,000 customers in 45 counties. Entergy Mississippi is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy generates, transmits and distributes electricity to power life for more than 3 million customers through our operating companies in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. We’re focused on keeping costs for our customers as low as possible while providing reliable energy that our communities count on. We’re also investing in growth for the future with a more resilient, cleaner energy system that includes modern natural gas, nuclear and renewable energy generation. As a nationally recognized leader in sustainability and corporate citizenship, we deliver more than $100 million in economic benefits each year to the communities we serve through philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy. Entergy is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has approximately 12,000 employees. Learn more at EntergyMississippi.com and connect with @EntergyMS on social media.

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