Jackson Progress-Argus

Laura E. Hale is the new executive director of the Butts County Industrial Development Authority.

Jackson — The Butts County Industrial Development Authority has a new executive director.

Laura E. Hale, a 25-year-old Henry County native, was hired by the board of the authority in November, and started work Dec. 1.

She replaces the outgoing Alan E. White, who has been the director -- the authority’s sole professional staffer -- since 2007. White has also served simultaneously as the county administrator, a role he is also leaving this month.

Hale previously worked as an account executive for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and as a sales associate for the Buckhead Beef Company, which supplies beef products to restaurants.

The Industrial Development Authority is charged with assisting existing industry in Butts County, and working to improve the infrastructure necessary to attract new industry.

The authority’s largest ongoing project is the preparation for possible development of a 284-acre tract of land on the Butts County-Lamar County border, off Ga. Highway 36 at Interstate 75.

Hale said assets like access to the interstate, and Butts County’s proximity to the Georgia ports and to the world’s busiest airport, can make this area attractive for future development.

“I think we have tremendous resources with the interstate and rail, the state highways that interlink us, relative distance to the airport and the ports. I think all of that plays a big factor into what we can become,” Hale said. “And it also plays a big part in who we can attract to Butts County.”

Hale said the board of the authority also would like to leverage and promote educational assets, like Butts County’s campus of Southern Crescent Technical College.

“I think they have a very progressive thought for what the county should do,” Hale said of the board. “I think marketing not only the properties but the county itself ... the total package of Butts County, is going to be a big goal of theirs as well as mine.”

Hale earned an agricultural communications degree from Auburn in 2009, and spent time in high school on her family’s two cattle farms, in Henry County and in Jackson.

“My dad wanted to make sure I knew what agriculture was before it was all gone, and Henry County just exploded in growth about that time,” she said.

Hale also interned for U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and as a legislative aide in the Georgia General Assembly.

Butts County officials, in a news release issued Tuesday, said, “Her background in agriculture coupled with her experience in the political climate that drives Georgia makes her well suited to head the agency that is responsible for attracting economic development to a county in transition.”

Bryan Bush, the chairman of the Butts County Industrial Development Authority, said Hale’s background in various sizes of organizations will be an asset to the authority. “We’re really excited to have Laura come on as executive director and look forward to her enthusiasm and experience ... and we think that she is going to be a great asset to us moving forward,” he said. “She does bring some good experience in various levels, from small business to large organizations, and we think that will be something that’s going to benefit us in a lot of different ways.”

The county hosted a public welcoming reception for Hale Wednesday, Dec. 7 in the gallery of the Administration Building, at 625 West Third Street in Jackson, from 3 to 4:30 p.m.