Hartman named Interim Executive Director of OEA

A day after it was announced that Richard Blackwell was resigning from the Oconee Economic Alliance (OEA), the Board of Directors has named Destination Oconee Manager Janet Hartman as the new interim executive director. “Obviously, we’re sad to lose Richard, he’s been a great asset to Oconee County and has done wonderful things for economic development in our area, not only here locally but at a state and regional level. He is very well respected, so he will be missed, but we recognize and congratulate him on his new position and wish him the best. Richard will bring great things to anything he work with, so we are excited for Richard to move on. For the team here at the OEA, I’m excited to say that I have accepted the interim position and will work with the team here, our board, county administrator and offices there to continue to work on the things that Richard has already set in place. our team has been involved in a number of the project visits and the different initiatives that are happening with our existing industry here and I will just step up to take on more of that and be more of the face in the community of the OEA. We will do our best to just continue on because there are lots of great things happening in Oconee County right and we just want that momentum to continue. We are not going to miss a beat, although Richard was great in everything he did, he also set up a team that can continue to move some things forward. We are excited about the future of Oconee County, we are continue moving on and look for great things to continue to happen.” Oconee County plans to conduct a search to find Blackwell’s permanent successor. Blackwell announced on Monday that he was taking a job in the private sector after six years serving as executive director of the OEA.