Jennifer Prather, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership’s special events coordinator and Starkville Community Market manager, was promoted to the organization’s newly established director of tourism position, the Partnership announced Monday.
Prather, a four-year veteran of the GSDP who also oversees the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Starkville Main Street Association, will serve in the role on an interim basis and could keep the title after a new chief executive officer is hired.
“I’m honored and appreciative of the trust that the GSDP Board of Trustees has placed in me to oversee SCVB and SMSA. I am proud of Starkville and look forward to contributing to the good work that our team is doing in the community,” Prather said.
The new position is expected to take on some of the responsibilities held by former Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Gregory, who resigned from her post in October.
Heath Barret, the Partnership’s director of membership development, was tapped as interim CEO after Gregory announced her departure.
“(Prather) has done an outstanding job with promoting Starkville through many events associated with SCVB and SMSA, and is most deserving of this opportunity. We are excited for her and look forward to many more opportunities that lie ahead that bring tourists to our city under her direction,” he said.
“We felt like there needs to be a primary contact person for tourism for our entity, because our previous CEO held that spot,” Barret added. “We want to make sure people outside of Starkville know who that person is, and (Prather in her new role) will serve as that primary contact person.”
Once expected to conclude this spring, the Partnership’s CEO search now could drag on into the summer after sources familiar with the process said the GSDP board is likely to hire an outside firm to seek more applicants. Three finalists were previously identified but not hired.
Those close to the process identified Barret and two other external applicants as those making the original cut but said the two other applicants pulled out of the process for unknown reasons.
GSDP Board of Trustees Chairman Michelle Amos previously declined to comment on any of the specifics surrounding the search or its possible candidates.
Barret also declined to comment on his potential CEO candidacy and referred questions about the search to Amos.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.