BRADD board names new deputy director

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A 30-year Barren River Area Development District employee was named deputy director of the agency Wednesday.

During the Board of Directors meeting, in addition to approval of the agency’s fiscal year 2020 audit, the board reviewed one personnel item on the agenda. BRADD’s Budget & Personnel Committee, chaired by board Vice-Chair Wil Cannon, Edmonson County Judge Executive, announced the findings of the committee’s search for the deputy director position.

Cannon motioned for the appointment of agency veteran and applicant, Michelle Hines, of Auburn, to the position.  Hines, a thirty-year BRADD employee is currently the associate director of Aging Services at BRADD, a role she has been in since 2009.

Hines will assume the post of agency-wide deputy director effective Jan. 1..

“In the past few years BRADD has made significant progress in expanding the services we offer and the client base we offer those services to.  While the success we are enjoying is the result of the hard work of our entire team, Michelle Hines has played an integral role in achieving this success,” BRADD’s Board Chairman Steve Thurmond said. “Every successful organization must, in order to continue moving forward, plan for the future.  With the establishment of the deputy director position BRADD is doing exactly that.

“With Michelle’s long-time experience in the organization and her heart for public service she will be the ideal person to take this position and assist executive director Eric Sexton in continuing to move BRADD forward.  I am so proud of Michelle and the contributions she has already made and look forward to what she will accomplish in this new position,” he said.

Edmonson County Judge Executive Wil Cannon added, “I’m glad Michelle was a candidate for this position. She is the same person every day with everyone she comes in contact with. I appreciate that quality about her. Her character demonstrates honesty, humility, integrity and she is an all around genuine person. She will be great in this role and I’m pleased by the unanimous decision of the committee.”

Eric Sexton, BRADD’s Executive Director now in his third year with the agency, states, “We are excited to keep Michelle here with us a while longer as she transitions to a role which will help our agency continue to be innovative in programming.”  Sexton further described the BRADD’s mission to have succession planning in place across the agency’s key roles.  Sexton will simultaneously name BRADD’s Assistant Aging Director, Alecia Johnson (of Butler County) as the interim Associate Director of Aging.  Hines and Johnson will work together closely in transitional matters in the coming months.

Sexton’s vision for the deputy director position will build on Hines’ background within the agency to further improve training, development and piloting some innovative programs attached to BRADD’s Health and Human services division.

“I am very excited and eager to have this new position to further assist BRADD (board and staff) in meeting its mission and goals to help the citizens of our region to become more self-sufficient, prosperous, and to have quality of life,” Hines said.

BRADD is the regional economic development agency and federally designated Area Agency on Aging and Independent Living, serving ten counties in Southcentral KY since 1968.
Kentucky has 15 Area Development Districts (ADDs) that provide a system of complete coverage to all 120 counties and a link between local leadership, the Governor’s office, state and federal agencies, and private organizations. The mission of the Barren River Area Development District is to preserve and advance the quality of life and economic well-being for the citizens of the BRADD through regional collaboration.