A ribbon-cutting has been scheduled at the renovated K-25 Visitors Center and Overlook in west Oak Ridge on Thursday, April 25.
The ceremony has been scheduled from 4-6 p.m. April 25. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
“This project has been a labor of love between Bionomics and Roane County Visitors Bureau/The Roane Alliance, and we are excited for you to see all the changes that have already taken place,” a press release said. [Read more…]
Steve Kelley, left, Pam May and Wade Creswell present a $10,000 check from the Roane Alliance to Pat Postma, second from right, for the new Peace Pavilion to house the International Friendship Bell. (Submitted photo)
The Roane Alliance recently contributed $10,000 to the fund supporting a new Peace Pavilion to house the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge’s Bissell Park.
Wade Creswell, president of the Roane Alliance; Pam May, Roane Alliance vice president; and Roane County Commissioner Steve Kelley presented the contribution to Pat Postma, co-chair of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee.
Kelley, who represents Roane County Commission District 4 in Oak Ridge, said county officials consider this a tourism contribution that will bring economic benefit to the county.
“The Tourism Committee of Roane County Commission had been looking for ways to help the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park become an economic engine for Roane County,†said Kelley, who chairs the committee. “I suggested a donation through the Roane Alliance to the bell project, to support the Bell and Peace Pavilion as an attraction for national park visitors. We believe it will help increase traffic to the national park and surrounding attractions.†[Read more…]
Leslie Henderson
Submitted by Roane Alliance
$150 million worth of new development opened
KINGSTON—To The Roane Alliance—and to many across Roane County—2013 will be remembered as one of the busiest years ever, with record-setting activity in major grand openings, business expansions, and in state-wide, national, and international recognition and awards.
“Most impressive were grand openings of more than $150 million worth of new development projects,†said Leslie Henderson, president and chief executive officer of The Roane Alliance, “including the new $76 million hospital in Midtown, the $35 million carbon fiber manufacturing research facility in Oak Ridge, and the $40 million Volkswagen 460,000-square-foot distribution facility along I-40 in east Roane.â€
Henderson said in the report that in 2013 Roane County also saw records set in numbers of announced expansions of existing industry and also in a record number of recognitions and awards for Alliance programs’ accomplishments. [Read more…]
Wade Creswell
KINGSTON—The Roane Alliance board on Thursday unanimously agreed to hire Roane County native Wade Creswell as their next president and chief executive officer.
Creswell, 39, was recommended to the board by its officers and the selection committee after a nationwide search that began several weeks ago, shortly after current President and CEO Leslie Henderson announced she would retire on March 28.
Creswell will come to the Alliance from his position as vice president of development and public relations for health services at Michael Dunn Center, one of Roane County’s largest employers. The Michael Dunn Center is a nonprofit agency that serves children and adults with developmental disabilities. [Read more…]
Leslie Henderson
KINGSTON—Roane Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Henderson has announced she will retire at the end of March.
She has been the president and CEO of The Roane Alliance, the county’s economic development organization, since Feb. 16, 2004. Henderson announced her retirement in a Tuesday letter to Sharon Templeton, Roane Alliance board chair.
“Although I struggled with this decision, I feel now that it is the right time to start on the next phase of my life and start working on some of that bucket list—travel, writing, project work, family time, and maybe even some business ventures of my own,” Henderson said in the letter.
“As for The Alliance, I think the time is also right, as the staff is not only one of the best I’ve ever worked with, but is also well-positioned to do great things for Roane County going forward. Each of them is very competent and capable,” Henderson said. “All I do is keep them focused and provide the tools they need. I could not be more proud of their successes.†[Read more…]
The crowd at a previous Roane Alliance Annual Gala. (Submitted photo)
The 2013 Roane Alliance Gala will be held Friday, Nov. 1, and the theme of this year’s annual fundraiser will be “Magic.â€
“The Roane Alliance Gala is always kind of a magical event,†said Roane Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Henderson. “So, it just made sense to embrace that as our theme this year.”
The Gala is the primary annual fundraising event for The Alliance, and the money raised from the night goes toward funding the many programs The Alliance administers throughout the year to ensure quality growth for Roane County, a press release said. [Read more…]
The Roane Alliance has released its most recent annual report, and it called 2012 the “busiest and most productive year ever.â€
Roane Alliance officials said they will remember 2012 as the year of the Volkswagen Distribution Center project.
But it was also a year of many other accomplishments, said Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Henderson.
