GTP's Fain attempt at success.

• Position: Eastern - Jim Fain - Global TransPark

Jim Fain doesn't have big shoes to fill. The last president of N.C. Global TransPark was the ex-CEO of a bankrupt airship manufacturer, and he left about eight years ago. But Fain, the former secretary of commerce recently hired as president of the 2,500-acre aviation-themed industrial park in Kinston, is still undertaking a big task: Bring credibility to an enterprise with a flighty past.

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Fain led the commerce department from 2001 until 2008, is respected by legislators and, as a former banker, brings expertise to the TransPark's troubled finances. Many credit him with luring Wichita, Kan.-based Spirit AeroSystems Inc., a global aircraft-parts maker and the park's only major tenant, to the TransPark in 2008. "He's part of some good, serendipitous things coming together," says N.C. Transportation Secretary Gene Conti, chairman of the Global TransPark Authority.

The TransPark does look ready for a fresh start. It had languished after its 1991 creation despite receiving more than $250 million in tax money and was often targeted by legislators who thi HQS wanted to kill it. But Spirit arrived four years ago promising more than 1,000 well-paying jobs. Then, in June, the General Assembly passed a bill giving the TransPark relief from its worst debt, nearly $40 million borrowed in 1993 from the state Escheat Fund. Conti says Fain...