Steve Ammons said he is not a bad father looking to upstage his daughter on her graduation day.

“This is her day,” the Jefferson County Commissioner said. “This is her day and it’s Cinco de Mayo. I am the last.”

A host of journalists seeking comment from Ammons might disagree. On the day that daughter Taylor McGill received her associate degree in veterinary tech from Jefferson State Community College, Ammons resigned from the commission and was named the new CEO for the Birmingham Business Alliance, the region’s primary economic development agency.

Ammons leaves his post as District 5 commissioner at the end of the month. A special election will be called to select his replacement. He’ll start his new role at BBA on May 30 and will be responsible for leading collaboration among BBA and its community partners across the seven-county region.

Ammons had received inquiries of his interest in the job. After putting “a lot of thought into it (and) a lot of prayer into it, I decided I would throw my name into the hat and put myself in the pool of candidates to be considered,” he said.

The soon-to-be former commissioner said his interest in economic development always made the job with the BBA appealing. He is pleased with several successes from his time on the commission, including the recruitment of The J.M. Smucker Company to the community, which resulted in a $1.2 billion capital investment, the largest in Jefferson County history.

Ammons expects to continue to work on elements of the development of the community’s ecosystem from his post with the BBA. That includes the issue of inadequate ambulance services in the regions, which he has negotiated with the county’s Emergency Management Agency and area fire and rescue services.

“I’m still going to be involved in that but … I can’t have a direct hand in it anymore,” he said. “I can support it heavily and I will continue to support it heavily. I just won’t have that direct impact on making the legislation to make things really work. I’m going to have to depend on the current commission to make sure that continues to be worked through.”

Ammons will miss next week’s committee and commission meetings as his family will take a vacation to celebrate Taylor’s graduation. His final meetings will be May 23 and 25.