Dear friends and colleagues:
In 2019, we began a succession planning process to ensure we had a solid roadmap for the future of Buckeye Hills Regional Council. Many of you generously shared your perspectives in interviews, stakeholder surveys, and focus groups later that year and in early 2020. With that roadmap in place, I am preparing to retire from my role as Executive Director of Buckeye Hills Regional Council this summer.
As I finish my work at Buckeye Hills Regional Council, I have been reflecting. I have heard that is something folks do when they’re closing a chapter, and I am closing a chapter – of what feels like an entire series of books.
I didn’t start out with the goal of being the Executive Director when I began working at Buckeye Hills 32 years ago. At that time, like any normal teenager, I just wanted to have a job and get out of school for half the day. I was 17 years old and wanted to be in the marching band, have a little bit of spending money, and hang out with my friends. However, as my employment with the council continued, I started to really read the documents and proposals I was typing for the development staff. I started asking questions. Thank goodness my mentors were patient and kind and good. They took the time to bring me in, explain to me why, how, who, and what, and impress upon me a sense of urgency to help folks who need help in whatever capacity I could.
I was raised in the Mid-Ohio Valley, and I’m proud that I’m still here. I get the chance, every day, to improve the lives of the people and the area that helped to raise me. I have met many folks along the way. Some have ‘grown up’ with me in our public-facing jobs – serving communities and people – and we have become friends through shared experiences and commiserating over some legislation or program. Some I have watched leave, while others have come back in one form or another. There really is no place like home.
I am thankful for those who have shown me the way. The members of my board, leaders in the community, and leaders at the state and federal levels have extended patience and grace as I learned how to use my voice and advocate for them, learned how to manage a staff, how to secure federal and state funds, and how to use them wisely for the benefit of our region’s communities, with accountability and transparency.
Steve Jobs once said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” I certainly do love what I do! In my work at Buckeye Hills, I have had the privilege to help communities and people get the capacity they need or secure that investment that may transform lives. I get to work with really great folks who also work hard – sometimes at two or three jobs – while also trying to make their community better – better for them, their friends, and their families. And I get to do all of that, living in a beautiful place, close to my family.
As I prepare to retire, it is exciting to see how many wonderful opportunities are before our region at this moment. In my three decades at Buckeye Hills, Appalachian Ohio has never witnessed this level of investment promised at the state and federal levels for all types of community needs. It is most certainly an opportunity for our region. It will also be a challenge. So, while I’m closing this chapter — of this book, of this series, of my time at Buckeye Hills Regional Council — I am looking forward to continuing to be a voice and an advocate for equity and parity for rural Appalachian Ohio. I will continue to cheer for the work you and the excellent staff at Buckeye Hills do for our region. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it for all these years.