Rock who was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland started his career in economic development in South Bend, Indiana. Following his tenure in Indiana he moved to Oklahoma to lead the economic development program for the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce before being recruited by Oklahoma City. When he left Oklahoma City Rock moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin to head their entrepreneur and small business development program. Eventually Rock along with his wife Hallie, who is from Houston, and their son Dylan decided to move to Texas to be closer to his wife’s family. Rock took a job in League City as the Economic Development Manager and was instrumental in attracting the first Cabella’s to the Houston market before accepting the
position with the Elgin EDC.
Rock has an undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University and a master’s degree
from the London School of Economics. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma
Economic Development Institute and received a Certified Economic Development Finance
Professional from the National Development Council.
Rock stated that “I am very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Elgin EDC
particularly at this time when the region is growing so fast. Elgin has been smart in adopting
the ED programs and incentives it has in place, it is way ahead of some communities with
larger populations”