In November, Ann Miller was selected as the Buda Economic Development Corp.'s new executive director, replacing former executive director Warren Ketteman. Miller started Jan. 2. She is in the midst of helping the Buda EDC put together a strategic plan and retail leakage study to determine the best way to increase Buda's tax base and job opportunities.
What was your previous position before coming to work in Buda?
I was the vice president of economic development for the Ada Jobs Foundation, which was a 501(c)3 nonprofit that had a contract to provide economic development services to the city of Ada, Okla.
How did that help prepare you for your current position?
I think it prepared me in a lot of ways. Buda and Ada have a lot of similarities. Buda and Ada both have a railroad running through town, we have cement plants, we're also both on the edge of an aquifer. In Ada I worked on recruiting office to retail to manufacturing and commercial. So having that well-rounded experience and working with developers will help me in this new position.
Are there any gaps in Buda's economic offerings (retail, commercial, manufacturing) that you've identified? If so, how can you fill those gaps without sacrificing the city's "small town feel?"
I think Buda has a lot of potential for not only retail growth but for what I would consider primary jobs. Those can be manufacturing, distribution, your white collar office, financial, medical type jobs. In Buda, most of our residents–I think about 80 percent–commute to another city for their place of employment, so one of the major gaps we can look at is, 'What skills do our current residents have, and what types of jobs are they commuting to?" And get those jobs here in Buda.
We want to keep the small town feel, but we also want to grow. That's why the EDC is conducting a strategic plan and also a retail leakage study to help identify markets–not only in retail but in manufacturing, commercial industrial–that would work well in Buda. That way, we can have planned development and planned growth. We want to make sure we do what's right for the community. Buda is going to grow whether we like it or not, so the best way we can manage that growth is to have a plan and make sure it grows the way we want it to. So that's why we're doing the strategic planning process. They were planning on doing it before I came on board, so it's perfect timing. It's going to allow the community to provide input and really develop a plan for the future, so we can have the small town environment, we can have the retail and we can have primary jobs, but they all work together and we don't just become some massive city and lose our identity.
What is something people might not know about you?
Most people, when they meet me, I'm in heels and a dress and makeup, so I think people just kind of think I'm a girly-girl, but I'm actually an avid outdoorsman. I enjoy hiking, I like nature, and I also enjoy hunting and sporting clay shooting. I've actually been deer hunting with the governor of Oklahoma. That's what I like to do in my free time.
What book are you currently reading?
"Operation Mincemeat" by Ben MacIntyre
What was the last movie you saw?
"The King's Speech"
