Ginger Metcalf, executive director of the private economic development group Identity Clark County, confirmed on Friday that she plans to retire from the position she has held since 1993.
“I have told the board,” Metcalf said. “They are very aware of my intention to retire.”
She is the second leader of a Vancouver-based economic development group to announce plans to leave in the last 10 days. The Columbia River Economic Development Council on April 30 said its longtime executive director Bart Phillips would step down on May 20 to pursue other interests.
Metcalf has said she is planning her retirement, said Ron Arp, a colleague and president of the Amplify Group Inc. in Vancouver.
“She wants to spend more time with her grandkids,” Arp said. “I think everybody’s known for some time there’s a transition coming and good for her.”
On its 2009 federal income tax statement, Identity Clark County, lists the mission: “to assemble and focus corporate leadership and investment in Clark County in a shared community agenda for economic expansion and vitality.” It listed Metcalf’s annual salary as $64,000 in 2009. It gets its funding from contributions and grants.
The organization was founded by Ed Lynch, a retired executive of Vancouver-based Kiewit Pacific Co. Lynch was the longtime chairman of the organization’s 20-member board of local business leaders, now led by Scott Horenstein, a Vancouver lawyer with The Scott Horenstein Law Firm.
Calls to Horenstein, Lynch and several other board members were not returned Friday.
Arp said Metcalf nurtured and promoted several developments, including projects to revitalize downtown Vancouver such as the revamped Esther Short Park and conference center in the Hilton Vancouver Washington, which opened in 2005.
The organization also championed several regional transportation projects during Metcalf’s tenure, accomplishments that could make the executive director hard to replace, Arp said.
“She’s certainly proven her ability to organize,” said Arp, who has worked with Metcalf and the Greenlight Greater Portland business group on the regional “Land Here, Live Here” campaign, aimed at luring companies to the Vancouver-Portland metro area.
“It’s difficult to replace someone with all those connections,” Arp said. “(Metcalf) has earned the trust and respect of public and private leaders alike, so she has done well.”
