The Greater Starkville Development Partnership named Heath Barret, the Mississippi State University coordinator of transfer recruitment, as its newest director of membership development, CEO Jennifer Gregory announced Monday.
Barret will join the Partnership on Aug. 19. He will help with new membership recruitment, member retention and other Chamber of Commerce planning and goal implementation.
Barret served with the MSU Department of Admissions and Scholarships since 2006 as the university continued posting record enrollment numbers.
“Heath’s professional background is in building relationships,” Gregory said. “Just as he successfully built relationships with students across the state and recruited them to Mississippi State University, we feel confident that he’ll use those same skills to revitalize our Chamber membership and help us achieve our goals of increasing membership and enhancing member benefits.”
Barret is married to the former Misty Peden. The couple has two sons, Jacob and Will.
“The opportunity to join the team at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership is an exciting one that will be both challenging and rewarding,” Barret said in an emailed statement. “I am looking forward to working closely with the current members and future members of the Partnership to make our town, Mississippi’s College Town, the place in Mississippi to live, work and raise a family.”
The membership director position opened in June when Austin Shafer joined BankFirst Financial Services’ local branch.
The Partnership received about 50 applications from interested candidates, Gregory said.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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