A Jacksonville, Fla., event planner has been hired to serve as executive director of Sylva Partners in Renewal.
Karen Armel-Lehmbeck should be at the helm of the downtown revitalization effort full time by mid-November, said SPIR President Jay Spiro, just in time for the Nov. 30 Christmas parade.
"Wešre excited to have Karen join the SPIR organization to lead us to the next level of revitalization in downtown Sylva," Spiro said. "Her background in business and cultural development will bring great experience to the position."
The position of SPIR executive director has been vacant since March, when Jim Bosworth left after two years to take a similar position in Fuquay-Varina.
Armel-Lehmbeck, founder and president of The Events Planners in Jacksonville, has spearheaded several corporate anniversary events in Florida, including the 50th anniversary celebration for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and the 75th anniversary of Gulf Life Insurance Co. Her other business experience includes work with the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and service on an advisory committee for the Jacksonville and Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau.
She currently serves as a community consultant on the Celebrate 2000 committee in St. Augustine, Fla., and has worked as a planner and fund-raiser for the Daughters of the American Revolution, St. Augustine Centennial Celebration committee.
In her letter to the SPIR board concerning the executive director position, Armel-Lehmbeck expressed her feelings for Sylva as follows:
"...For years I had my eye on Blowing Rock as the place to relocate... Then we discovered Sylva... We walked down Main Street and stopped in at City Lights... It was dusk and the lights came on at your newly restored courthouse. We were impressed."
Special skills Armel-Lehmbeck says shešll bring to the SPIR position include a "talent for motivating and guiding large and small teams to project completion" and the "ability to develop business plans and to manage budgets."
Her achievements in cultural development have been as a planner for theater festivals and a grant writer for the Jacksonville Lyric Theater. She also served as manager of the inaugural Southeastern Tours of the Florida Ballet, Southern Ballet Theater, Theater Jacksonville, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and St. Johns River city Band.
According to Spiro, Armel-Lehmbeck has started performing some tasks for SPIR and plans to move to Jackson County with her husband, Pierce, next month.