Kim McAuliffe joined the city of Georgetown Economic Development Program in May as its new downtown development manager.[/caption]In May, Georgetown’s new downtown development manager, Kim McAuliffe, was tasked with the job of guiding retail recruiting and retention in the city’s downtown, including on The Square.
McAuliffe was hired following a city administrative restructuring process that brought the downtown development manager position under the purview of the city’s economic development program, which oversees business retention and recruitment in Georgetown.
McAuliffe’s previous work experience includes creating a downtown-focused tourism program for the city of Hutto and managing the revitalization of Huntsville’s Downtown Square as part of her work with the Huntsville Main Street Program.
She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Sam Houston State University and is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.
What are your biggest priorities during your first year on the job?
Working collaboratively with organizations and property owners in making sure downtown thrives through all of us [are my biggest priorities]. I want to make sure I meet and get to know everyone and be a good facilitator of our collaborations. If one group is strong, we’re all stronger for that.
What is the biggest challenge in your new role?
So far it has been being able to go out and meet everyone because it’s such a large community. I want to meet everyone who has a stake in downtown, but it’s hard because it’s so spread-out. I’ll get there, but logistically it’s tough to get to everyone in a timely manner.
What is your favorite thing about downtown Georgetown?
I first fell in love with Georgetown when I became a Main Street [Program] manager about eight or nine years ago. I just love the sense of place it has. It’s just naturally beautiful. The architecture is really great. There’s not a lot of communities like it. But everybody has also been wonderful. Everyone has been very friendly and willing to help whenever I ask for help.
Where is your hometown?
I would probably say Kingwood, outside of Houston. I lived there for most of my childhood, and [then] moved to southeast Texas for a couple of years.
What does an average workday look like for you?
There’s no average day, because no two days are the same. We might be talking to a potential business owner about a space one minute, and then I’m working on an application the next [minute]. I do a little bit of everything. Primarily, meeting with business and property owners, trying to go out and meet them and find out what their needs might be or what projects they’re working on that they might need assistance with from the city.
Where were you before you came to Georgetown?
Prior to Georgetown, I was with the city of Hutto and before that [the] city of Huntsville. I was the downtown tourism manager in Hutto, and I was the Main Street [Program] manager in Huntsville.
What makes downtown unique?
Georgetown has a lot of great people that want to see the city be the best that it can be. There’s a good mix [of businesses downtown] already, and we try to look at ways we can diversify offerings based on what we hear. You can really, truly come to Georgetown for a couple of days and not be bored. We have wineries and live music almost every night at the restaurants.
What do you want the community to know about you?
I’m available for questions if people have interest in opening a business or redeveloping somewhere in downtown. I’m still learning at this point, but I can always find an answer if someone is asking.
