Page 18 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2018

COASTNOTES
Celebrates
or 60 years Harrison County
Development Commission (HCDC)
has been bringing new industries to the area and
helping existing businesses grow. The organization celebrated by launching a re-branding, new website, and by re-naming the retirement program as Coastal Partnerships.
“We’re celebrating the past and preparing for the future. The website is designed to get people intrigued
and to call us,” Executive Director Bill Lavers said. “We changed the name
of the retirement program because we want everyone to come here.”
The commission manages three industrial parks and may develop another one. “Our focus on industrial remains, but if anyone wants to talk about a business in Harrison County, I’ll talk to them. Our job is to help people grow their businesses and be successful,” Lavers said.
Lavers says HCDC is recruiting new industries without using incentives. Examples of recent successes
story by Lynn Lofton
include a 50,000-square-foot facility
in the Saucier Industrial Park that
will employ 50 people; an existing company that’s expanding and employing 200 people; $34 million from land sales in the past six months; and the recovery of $1.9 million from FEMA that is being invested into the community.
Harrison County Development Commission
12281 Intraplex Parkway, Gulfport 228.896.5020 | www.mscoast.org
Gulf Coast Symphony
Welcomes New Executive Director
story and photo by Lynn Lofton
The Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra welcomes Jordan Warren as the new executive director. She comes to Mississippi from Raleigh,
North Carolina, where she was executive director of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra.
“I’m excited to accept this position and look forward to all we can do together to grow the symphony and its impact on this community,” Warren said.
Board Chairman John McFarland noted that the board’s search committee took its time and more than four months, reviewing two dozen applicants for the executive director position. “We were
all very excited about Jordan’s background and her experience working with two other orchestras, and with the energy and ideas she shared over two interviews,” he said. “We believe we have found just the right person to work with our board and music director, Dr. Peter Rubardt, to lead the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra, Inc. to even greater levels of success.”
Jordan, originally from New York, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, and a Master’s of Arts degree in Arts from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra
228.896.4276 www.gulfcoastsymphony.net
Jordan Warren
18 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • December 2018
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