Deirdre White, who was picked from the Downtown Neighborhood Association board in 2013 to lead the development group, announced today she is stepping down for a position elsewhere.
White announced her decision in an email to the Elgin City Council and City Manager Rick Kozal. According to the email, the resignation is effective as of Friday.
“An opportunity was presented to me and after much consideration, I accepted it,” White wrote in her letter to council.
Elgin Mayor David Kaptain said he’d met with White and a few members of the DNA board Wednesday afternoon and was aware White was stepping down.
Modeled after the Illinois Main Street program, the downtown association first began organizing in 1998, according to Courier-News stories from the time.
Currently, DNA gets $135,000 in annual funding from the city of Elgin. The group also has membership dues and other funding sources.
The DNA board would be responsible to fill leadership positions within the organization, Kaptain said.
It is his understanding White is taking a job in Bartlett, Kaptain said.
Before White became director at DNA she was the marketing manager at the YWCA in Elgin.
“I just sent her an email,” Kaptain said Wednesday afternoon. “She has done a great job (at DNA), she did a great job with the YWCA and I hope she stays involved with the city of Elgin,” Kaptain said.
DNA board member Karin Jones said she was sad to see White leave and was proud of the work done there in her time.
“I am sorry to see her go but it is time for the next adventure in her life,” Jones said.
The change in leadership comes as the downtown organization — which does events and some marketing for the downtown area — is evaluating itself, Kaptain said.
“They are looking at revisiting what they do as an organization,” Kaptain said. “They are talking about looking at how they have done business in the last few years and (if it is) time for restructuring and looking at what the DNA does,” he said.
When the DNA first began, much of what the organization did was special events, Jones noted.
Now, many other organizations and businesses put on their own special events.
“We were the start of that,” said Jones, who has served on the DNA board for the past 10 years.
“We are looking at what our next steps are and what are the economic drivers,” Jones said.
Janelle Walker is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
