Less than two months into his tenure as CEO, the Golden Triangle Development LINK has parted ways with Iain Vasey.
Meryl Fisackerly was appointed CEO on Thursday, following Vasey stepping down from the role, according to a LINK Executive Committee press release.
Fisackerly, previously the chief operations officer for the LINK, has worked for the region’s industrial recruitment arm for seven years. She served as interim following Joe Max Higgins’ firing last August. She had applied for the CEO position before the LINK hired Vasey.
“Meryl has had a successful tenure at the LINK and has built strong, meaningful relationships across the region,” Board Chairman Bain Nickels said in the press release. “She understands our communities, our assets, and our partners well, and we are confident in her ability to lead this organization going forward.”
The LINK contracts with Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties, with each county and their largest municipalities contributing annually to the organization.
Fisackerly told The Dispatch the LINK, under her leadership, will continue its momentum as an economic development force, and her experience with the organization prepared her well for the top job.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “It’s really awesome to look back on all the years, all the hard work of getting to this position and finally getting to be here. There’s a lot of work to be done … but I know I’ve got a really great foundation. … The tenacity of the LINK, the way we attack things, the way we approach projects, the way we involve and engage, all of that is going to continue.”
Vasey joined the LINK in March after stints in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Klamath Falls, Oregon. He boasts 30 years of experience in economic development, a career where he has helped attract more than $50 billion in industrial investment.
His hiring followed a monthslong nationwide search, led by Jorgenson Pace, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based search firm specializing in nonprofit, economic development and community development sectors.
In interviews with The Dispatch and on the newspaper’s Between the Headlines podcast, he leaned into the identity of a “silent assassin,” someone who leaned on data and was content to work mostly behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight. That contrasted vastly with the out-front approach of his predecessor.
The LINK press release offered no reason for Vasey’s resignation, but it included a statement from him.
“I have great respect for the work the LINK does and for the communities it serves,” Vasey said. “I wish Meryl and the entire team continued success, and I am confident the Golden Triangle is in excellent hands.”
Trip Hairston, president for the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, said he was not comfortable speculating on why Vasey resigned. He offered his full-throated support for Fisackerly as CEO.
“I do appreciate (Vasey’s) service to the LINK, and I wish him nothing but success,” Hairston said. “I met with him several times and got to know him. … This is a decision he made and had good reason to make it.
“… We’ve had a great deal of confidence in Meryl and her leadership,” he added. “She’s been deeply involved in the LINK’s work for years. She understands the region very well. She has a great relationship with local governments, industries and economic development partners. … She also understands a lot of the site selectors and has really deep relationships with them.”
‘Frustration’ from Starkville
Not everyone is taking Thursday’s LINK news in stride.
Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch she feels left in the dark about why Vasey resigned. In a phone call with Nickels, Spruill said he simply told her the decision was “mutual.”
“In two months, somebody hadn’t even found where the bathroom is yet, how can that be a mutual thing?” Spruill said. “… (Nickels) wouldn’t expand on that, so I’ve got nothing. I don’t know why it wasn’t a good fit. … If the person who came didn’t feel comfortable trying to live in the region, that’s one thing. I was told it was mutual, which allows me to ask the question, ‘From a mutual standpoint, what was the problem?’ … I got no answer.
“… I am frustrated,” she added. “I think it was premature unless there was something else going on, in which case a broader explanation to the clients, customers, participants, payors, would be appropriate.”
Spruill said this is the latest in a series of “premature behavior” from the LINK with which she is “struggling.”
Compounded with Higgins’ termination, those decisions have undermined the LINK’s efforts, she said, and made Starkville’s participation with the organization a matter “to be determined.”
“It’s worrisome, and something we need to be mindful of in looking at what our future best interests will be,” Spruill said.
When Higgins was fired in August, Spruill defended the 20-year CEO, even as the Executive Committee issued a statement that he was terminated for inappropriate behavior and speech that went “well beyond profanity, and, if known, would harm every member of this community.”
A federal lawsuit the LINK later filed against its insurance company revealed a former LINK employee had taken more than 700 audio recordings of Higgins allegedly harassing her and discriminating against her, among other things. The employee, former vice president of economic development Betsy Young, claims she was later forced out of her position, after which she demanded “monetary and non-monetary” relief from the Executive Committee as a result.
Even now, however, Spruill believes Higgins’ firing was “premature.”
“There was not a chance for him to rectify his behavior, and he’s as bright a man as you’d ever want to meet,” Spruill said. “… Without Joe Max, we would not have what we have. To me, that’s the bottom line. Was he abrasive? Yes. Was he effective? Yes. Would I have preferred he not be quite so abrasive? Yes. … But I’m a big fan. He was successful, despite his colorful language, for going on 20 years.”
Spruill offered Fisackerly a cautious congratulations.
“I like Meryl fine,” she said. “I think she’s a good second. At this point, she’s about to be a first. I’m hopeful she will be a very good first.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
