Michaela Dollar Michaela Dollar will start as city of Georgetown's new economic development director on Aug. 8.[/caption]

The city of Georgetown has hired Michaela Dollar as the city’s new economic development director.

Dollar, who currently leads business recruitment efforts for the Round Rock Chamber and Economic Development Partnership, will take over the position Aug. 8.

The Georgetown position has been vacant since former Economic Development Director Mark Thomas resigned in December 2015 to accept a position with the Taylor Economic Development Corp.

Prior to joining the city of Georgetown, Dollar worked in economic development in Texas and Florida for 11 years, and her work in business recruitment, retention and marketing in those roles has helped create more than 2,730 jobs and $659.7 million in capital investment, according to a news release from the city of Georgetown.

“I think she has the experience and the skill set to address what I feel like are our primary economic development opportunities over the next several years,” City Manager David Morgan said. “We need to be able to not only continue to attract industrial and manufacturing and distribution uses, but we also need to expand our economic development efforts to look at office development as well as retail development. She has experience working in Cedar Hill and Round Rock as well as the city of Dallas to have all this experience and skill sets in her toolbox.”

Dollar has worked in Round Rock since 2013, and was a part of the formation of the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership, which is a regional economic development collaboration that includes the city of Georgetown, according to the news release.

“With the knowledge of the Central Texas region, Michaela will be able to hit the ground running with a level of sophistication to take advantage of the economic opportunities for Georgetown today and in the future,” Morgan said in a statement.

Dollar also serves on the Foreign Trade Zone of Central Texas board of directors and on the board of the Round Rock Area Arts Council.

“I am excited to join the city of Georgetown during this new wave of economic growth. I can tell that city leadership has developed a dynamic team, and I very much look forward to being part of it,” Dollar said in a statement.

Dollar has a master’s degree in communication from the University of Texas at Arlington and a bachelor’s degree in business communication from Florida State University, according to the news release.