From the GSDP offcies:
GREATER STARKVILLE DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP CONTINUES THROUGH THE SEARCH PROCESS FOR NEW CEO
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Greater Starkville Development Partnership continues to progress through the search process to fill the position of President & Chief Executive Officer. The development organization selected executive search firm The PACE Group to lead a national search to fill the position. The PACE Group is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi with offices in suburban Dallas and Chicago.
The PACE Group completed community leader interviews in June and prepared a Needs Assessment Report and Job Description. These reports were used to recruit candidates from all over the country as over 60 possible candidates were contacted from 16 states. Through these efforts 19 tier one candidates were identified and taken through the recruitment process to narrow the field to five finalists.
The five finalists were presented to the Greater Starkville Development Partnership Selection Committee for consideration. Four different states were represented in the finalists list including Mississippi. The Selection Committee will continue with the process and hopes to name a new CEO in the next 30-45 days.
The Selection Committee is not doing the search in a manner that best serves our town. The search should be expanded. I understand that certain members dictated to Pace who they wanted or didnt want on the list. Unacceptable.
I was told Terry Kemp cut one qualified candidate personally that had much more experience than anyone being interviewed. He is afraid this candidate would come in and read the books and realize what a cluster the Partnership is and how bad the leadership has been the past 7 years. Trust me it wasn’t all David Thornell’s fault. Financially, the Parntership has been run so irresponsible and much money has been squandered. Terry Kemp cut this candidate because he knew he would be replaced on the board by this particular candidate and would not be involved in the process anymore. This whole process has been a sham and needs to be looked into and made public. This same good ole boy network is holding starkville back again and it is ridiculous. We deserve better and we should start holding these people accountable for their actions.
Coblentz was right about a month ago when he called for the heads of the 7-man Partnership Executive Committee. That group is responsible for the situation Starkville is in regarding economic development, and they should be held accountable. There are some intelligent people on the smaller Partnership Boards (OCEDA, Chamber, CVB), and it’s probably way past time for someone else to take a shot at running that organization.
The Partnership Executive Committee is made up of a bunch of ‘Good Ole Boys’ who are in it for themselves. They are controlling, narrow-minded, short-sighted Bubbas who are scared of change, progress and creativity. Being home to the largest public university in the state should make Starkville an easy sell, but these guys can’t sell it and haven’t hired the right person to help them at this point. The fact that the past CEO was allowed to stay as long as he did shows that they don’t react quickly enough to obvious problems.
Maybe with Thornell and McDavid out, the Partnership can finally reach its potential, because as long as those two were there, the organization was spinning its wheels. The Executive Committee should hire the most progressive go-getter they can find, do whatever they can to retain the few staff members they have left and try to move forward. The staff members that remain seem like a tightly -knit, intelligent group who just needs the right leader in order to maximize their potential, plus the Partnership Board really doesn’t need to have to explain why another staffer has jumped ship…
This “search process” doesn’t seem to have been nearly as open and honest as Kemp promised the public it would be…