TEDA contenders to meet commissioners

A special search committee has named the top three finalists for the lead executive position with the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority.

TEDA Board of Commissioners Chairman Don Hingle said Friday that Nicholas Johnson, Drew Page and Sean Stockard have been invited to meet and interview with the organization’s stakeholders and commissioners on May 19.

“All five [semi-finalist] candidates are excellent and it was tough to pick the three,” Hingle said. “But we had a consensus on the three.”

NICHOLAS JOHNSON

Nicholas Johnson offers 14 years of public service experience. He is a 2003 graduate of Texas State University and is currently economic development coordinator for the Texas Association of Regional Councils in Austin.

“It is very exciting to see a parish that has so many natural resources and so many community-and industry-based resources that can really be expanded upon and take the region to a whole new level,” Johnson said.

DREW PAGE

President and CEO of the Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Foundation in Bogart, Ga., Drew Page is seeking a return to the Tri-parish region after having worked as CEO of the East St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce from 1983 until 1985. Page’s career in economic and business development spans four decades.

“I’m flattered to be in the company of a distinguished group of candidates,” Page said. “I’m looking forward to getting back to an area that you can use a lot of imagination. The interesting thing about south Louisiana is it is such a varied culture and topography. Everything about it is different. So, it takes a different glance of things to recognize what you can do and have a little more imagination to get projects accomplished. The people are open to that. I’m looking forward to getting back into that area.”

SEAN STOCKARD

As president and CEO of the Business Development Corp. of Vernon, Texas, since August 2005, Sean Stockard has been in charge of creating and retaining family-wage jobs through business startups, retention, expansion and recruitment. Stockard earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities at Washington State University in 1995.

“I’ve taken a look at the economy down there and I know you guys are gas and oil like a lot of us here in the Gulf States,” Stockard said. “I think there probably needs to be some looking done at small business retention and expansion. Taking a look at the industries we have right there and seeing about helping them possibly grow and getting a better anchor in the community. It seems to me that there is some strong interest in making sure the businesses that are already there are taken care of first, and I’m really interested in taking a look at that and seeing how it works out.”

“I think we got a good mix [of candidates], a younger fellow, a middle age fellow and an older fellow, all at different experience levels,” Hingle said. “I think any one of them would make a great CEO.”

The TEDA search has been conducted by Johnson & Associates of Austin.