Graves County Economic Development introduced its new president this week. Jason Lemle assumes the role after Ryan Drane stepped down last October following seven years at the helm of the organization.
Lemle comes to GCED after serving as a senior project manager with the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, where he was involved with business attraction efforts, developing marketing plans and supporting existing businesses and workforce development.
“My role was multi-dimensional in the fact that I did a lot of different roles and a lot of different things, but really learned a lot of valuable tools and valuable resources there and gained a lot of experience and knowledge,” he said Wednesday in the GCED conference room.
A native of Illinois and graduate of the University of North Texas, Lemle had previously worked as the vice-president of business development for World Economic Development Alliance in Dallas. There, he was involved in generating leads and marketing enhancement programs for economic development organizations and chambers of commerce across the country, specifically Connecticut, Texas, California, Michigan, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
Being a community organizational executive director or president has been a goal of his, Lemle said, and the opportunity with Graves County Economic Development presented itself with an established foundation and chance to grow.
“I have a passion for economic development, getting to see the impact a local organization can have contributing to the well-being of a community,” he said. “For every job created or investment that comes in or every new program or connection made enhances someone’s life, so seeing others be successful and happy is really what drives me in this role.”
Over the past seven years, GCED had partnered on 40 projects which created more than 1,900 full-time jobs in Graves County that had a capital investment of more than $300 million. Two years ago, Graves County was picked as the top Kentucky community with a population with less than 50,000 residents and was fourth in the U.S. for economic growth by Site Selection Magazine.
Getting underway, Lemle, whose wife, Callie, is a certified public accountant for a Dallas firm, said he planned to assess Mayfield and Graves County’s existing business infrastructure, meet with existing companies and leaders to identify any needs or resources.
“Visiting and identifying what their needs are for the future will help me paint a picture what areas need to be stepped up or what areas need to be focused on for continued growth,” he said. While Bowling Green and Mayfield and Graves County are different communities, there are some similarities.
“I see every community for who they are and I want to come in and help make them the best version of themselves,” Lemle said. “There’s different demographics, different interstate systems, but one of the things that’s similar to Bowling Green is the collaboration and progress everyone wants to see.
“One of the big beliefs I have is collaboration is key, so working with the City of Mayfield and Graves County Fiscal Court and the (Mayfield-Graves County) Industrial Authority will be very key to the success and growth of what we want to do here,” he added.
With continued growth at the Hickory Industrial and Grace Commercial parks to supporting agriculture and existing industries, Lemle noted the importance of Interstate-69 to the region and Mayfield and Graves County in particular.
“Interstates play huge roles in logistics and identifying customers and suppliers along those interstates is key,” he said. “I do see a major benefit with it running down through Memphis and up through Indianapolis. There’s some great connectivity with that. It’s just identifying key industries and companies that you can really bring here that utilize this interstate frequently.”