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[Americus, GA] – The Board of Directors for the One Sumter Economic Development Foundation, Inc. is pleased to announce Ivy Oliver as the Foundation’s new Executive Director. Oliver has been with the organization since 2017 and served as Interim Executive Director since April 2019.

Prior to her employment at One Sumter, Oliver served in several capacities with the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce and Sumter County Development Authority focusing on business development, marketing and community program management.

Oliver stated, “I am beyond excited about this opportunity. As a resident of Sumter County, having the opportunity to serve the community that has helped shaped me is truly humbling. One Sumter has made a significant impact over the past four years by establishing strong collaboratives and partnerships and leveraging over $5 Million in capital investment toward the community. I am grateful that I was able to play a role in those efforts and am thrilled with my new role moving forward.”

Among the new leadership, Dr. Alex Riccardi has joined the Board of Directors as an appointment by the Sumter County Development Authority in November, which expands the board to seven directors.

Another lifelong resident of Sumter County, Dr. Alex Riccardi attended Southland Academy graduating in 2006. She attended Darton College in Albany, Georgia and later transferred to Reinhardt University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Riccardi continued her education at the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University Dental College of Georgia), where she graduated with her DMD (Doctor of Medical Dentistry) in May 2015. Upon graduation, she returned to Americus to join and practice with her father, Dr. Lou Riccardi. Since returning to Americus, she has joined the Junior Service League and has also been recognized as one of Reinhardt University’s 10 under 10 in 2017. She is a member at First United Methodist Church of Americus and is engaged to Wesley Turner of Madison, Georgia with plans to marry in March 2020.

Riccardi expressed her enthusiasm about joining the Board, “One Sumter has been able to achieve a great deal of success in a short amount of time that has positively impacted our community. With that being said, I believe there is much more to do in order to become more sustainable. As a young professional, I knew I wanted to return home to start my career. However, our pool of young professionals is shrinking due to limited amenities, opportunities and resources that other communities may offer. We have to have something for our young people to do in order to keep them here. I believe establishing more opportunities geared toward our youth and young professionals can drastically change the trajectory of our community. That is why I am excited to be part of the leadership of One Sumter. As they continue focusing on creating an ecosystem of engagement and talent development, I feel I can play a key role to help champion those efforts.”

One Sumter Chairman, Alex Saratsiotis, shared his excitement about the additions to the Foundation, “One Sumter has worked to build a platform for success and growth. We simply could not have done that without our leadership team, donors, partners and volunteers. As we began looking at new priorities and expanding previous efforts, we felt we needed additional leadership to provide new perspective and fresh ideas to continue to keep moving forward.”

Saratsiotis continued expressing his support, “I am excited Ivy and Dr. Riccardi have come on board as their skill set, expertise and leadership will be valuable to the organization.”

 

The One Sumter Economic Development Foundation, Inc., is a partnership between the Sumter County Payroll Development Authority and the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce, dedicated to enhancing and supporting the community’s economic and workforce development efforts.  A non-profit, 501 (c) 3 charitable organization, One Sumter supports work within four key focus areas:  1) Economic Development, 2) Workforce Development, 3) Marketing & Communications, and 4) Transportation. A five-year capital campaign effort, One Sumter is supported by over 100 donors representing business and industry, educational institutions, local government, and the contributions of private individuals who have invested in the vision for future growth.