The board room of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership will soon welcome some new faces.
At its July 25 meeting, the GSDP board unanimously approved a nominating committee that will be tasked with replacing six board members whose terms are expiring.
Amy Tuck, Harold Clark, W.H. “Bill” Cunningham, Jeff Read, Amy Crigler and Paul Luckett are all completing their third terms in 2013, but GSDP bylaws do allow them to be nominated again.
GSDP Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Gregory said the nominating process presents the board with a chance to reassess and address its needs as a board.
“It’s also a great opportunity for us to have new board members to bring in new and fresh perspectives,” she says. “(The committee considers) candidates who have displayed a strong commitment to community development and that we think can speak up and participate in meaningful conversation and discussion.”
In accordance with GSDP bylaws, this year’s nominating committee consists of seven members of the board: Steve Langston, chair; Richard Hilton, chair-elect; Melissa Dixon, president of the Starkville Area Chamber of Commerce; Bill Daniel, chairman of Starkville Visitors and Convention Council; Jack Wallace, president of the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Agency; Amy Tuck, past chairman of the GSDP Board; and Gregory. Tuck will serve as the chair of the nominating committee.
At the GSDP’s September meeting, the nominating committee will present the board with a list of potential members for approval.
In addition to new board members, the nominating committee will also select the GSDP’s new treasurer, secretary and chair-elect who will serve as officers with incoming chairman Richard Hilton. Hilton is the CEO of the Oktibbeha County Regional Medical Center.
New board members are expected to be ambassadors for what is being done at the Partnership, according to Gregory.
“This includes recruiting new members, spreading the message of our goals and mission and to help bring others to the table so the conversation we have in inclusive,” Gregory said.
All terms for the 12 appointed members of the board are for three years.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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