Has your inbox felt a void during the past few months? Have you been anxiously checking your email to see if you've received the latest Fairfield Advantage e-newsletter only to be disappointed? Well, your wait is over. We're back and ready to share the wonderful things that are happening in Fairfield County.

                             

The Fairfield County Economic Development department has gone through a transition in the past seven months. Both positions in the office switched hands since the middle of 2015. Linda Kaufman retired from her position as Economic Development Assistant at the end of June and Bob Clark, Economic Development Director, left his position in August.  Bob was elected to Canal  Winchester's city council and started his term a few weeks ago and I know he'll do great things for that city.

Our new Economic Development Assistant is AJ Lacefield. AJ lives on the east side of Lancaster and is a recent graduate of Heidelberg University (the one in Ohio, not Germany). AJ  was  born in Madison, Wisconsin but grew up in northeastern Ohio and has lived in the Lancaster area f or a year and a half. If you want to talk about Apple watches or  anything tec hy, trend y, or cool AJ's your guy.

 

My name is R ick Szabrak and I've been the Fairfield County Economic Development Director for a month. If my name sounds familiar it may be from a previous role as publisher of the  Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.

Many people have asked me why I made the switch in careers. Below are the main reasons:

 

Family is first. I have a one-year old son and I was looking for a job where I could work closer to home (my job with the Eagle-Gazette changed a few years ago and I was covering 10 sites across Ohio as our company's regional sales director).

  

Second, I love how much people love this area. What does that mean? Well, I've worked across the state and I haven't seen people as passionate about where they live and work as those in Fairfield Cou nty. 

Finally, it fits with what I've been doing for the past 10 years. My job was to transform our newspaper to better serve our readers and the community while maintaining the parts of the paper that people loved. As Economic Development Director, my role is to help transform Fairfield County into a forward-thinking, economic engine while maintaining the land, history and sense of community that people love.

 

AJ and I are excited about what's ahead for Fairfield County. The Fairfield Advantage e-newsletter will be delivered at a minimum of the first Friday of every month. It will be in a casual, blog format like this and will highlight growth in our county. We'll also discuss things that are happening at the regional and the state level.  If you have anything about your business that you would like included, please send this  information to AJ at  [email protected] .

 

And please reach out to me. We are here to help your business in any way we can. Whether it's looking for funds, looking for property where you can grow, or you have general questions please don't hesitate to ask. My email is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you and can't wait to work with you to help this county grow.