Five board members have been selected for the Board of Directors of the new private-public economic development organization currently in the works in Brunswick County.

Allen Bryant (District 1), John Ward (District 2), Dennis Ewald (District 3), Clint Berry (District 4) and Michael Reives (District 5) have each been selected by the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners to serve on the economic development board, according to Mike Hargett, the current economic development and planning director for Brunswick County. The five appointees were approved at the board of commissioners meeting Monday night, and were selected from each of the commissioners' districts.

Brunswick County’s economic development efforts are currently a function of county government, a change made two years ago. But this summer, county officials decided to switch it to a private-public function.

In July, the commissioners approved the new structure for the private-public economic development organization. The new board is slated to be made up of staff from either the county or the nonprofit, a new executive director and a 16-member member board that includes the county commissioners’ chair and vice chair, the county manager, five appointees (one from each of the commissioner’s districts) and eight representatives from the professional, industrial and service sectors, according to county documents.

Brunswick County will contract with the nonprofit for the provision of economic development services, according to county officials.

Commissioner board Chairman Frank Williams called the move a "fresh start" for the Brunswick community's economic development efforts.

"I think we have a good board. As far as the people that we have on the board; we have a banker, one of them works for ATMC and another works for Victaulic," he said.

According to the applications for appointment in the county's agenda, Berry is vice president of network operations at ATMC, Reives is faculty operations manager at Victaulic in Leland, and Ewald is with Red Eagle Consulting.

According to Hargett, the other appointees include Ward, a retired dentist, and Bryant, a banker who previously served on the economic development commission.

Williams said he is looking forward to seeing involvement from the private sector.

“Brunswick County has a great thing going and the whole purpose of this is to tell our story to the world and I am excited to get this thing up and running,” Williams added.

Now the county’s economic development group will begin the transition from underneath the umbrella of the county to its new private-public structure. Hargett said the commissioners' appointees are one of the next steps in getting the new economic development group formed.

“Now they have a full board, Chairman of the Board of Directors Jason McLeod would call a meeting now and start the process of forming the group and getting it operational,” Hargett said.

According to county documents, the new economic development group will "begin the various processes of forming within the next 30-60 days."

“We will do a transition,” Hargett said of the transfer process. “We are currently continuing to perform the operational duties of economic development and when they hire a director, we will transfer the function over.”

 McLeod said the new organization will meet sometime in September.

From there, the group will take the existing Economic Development Foundation -- a nonprofit that has been an outside partner in economic development efforts in the county for years, in which McLeod was also chairman of the board of directors -- and work on adopting new bylaws to formalize the new transition and other changes to form the new economic development organization.

At that time, the group will also work on rebranding, McLeod said, which will include a new name for the economic development organization. Recruitment efforts will also begin for the board's new executive director.

The way the 16-member board is structured, it’s “going to be a very active and working board,” McLeod said, adding that the group will also have active committees and invite non-board members to participate.

“I applaud the commissioners to take the initiative to restructure this … I think it’s the way of the future in modern economic development,” McLeod said. “Brunswick County is well positioned and this is a piece of the puzzle that will hopefully make a difference in the lives of the people in Brunswick County for the future.”