Gary Troutman, president and CEO of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, was elected to the Southern Economic Development Council board recently at the 2022 SEDC Annual Conference in San Antonio.
New directors elected by the council's membership to the 17-state board also included Missy Kendrick, Georgia; Kelly Smallridge and Tiffany Garling, Florida; Zach McHatton and James Oltman, Kansas; Larkin Simpson, Louisiana; Pete Fullerton, Missouri; Andy Coe, North Carolina; Richard Blackwell and Kellen Riley, South Carolina; Andrea Anderson, Oklahoma; Lindsay Frilling, Tennessee; Adam Gawarecki and Tom Long, Texas.
Newly elected directors begin terms on Jan. 1.
"It is an honor and a privilege to once again serve on this prestigious board for an organization in SEDC which has been promoting growth and economic prosperity in this region of the country since 1946," Troutman said in a news release.
"We recently learned at the SEDC Conference that the total number of jobs in the country have been restored to pre-pandemic levels, but a disproportionate amount of the new job growth is in the southeastern United States because of our region's and Arkansas' unwavering commitment to 'stay open for business' during the challenges the pandemic threw at us all."