The Atlanta Beltline could soon lose its CEO to a major economic development job in Seattle.
Beltline CEO Brian McGowan is the sole finalist and is expected to become the first chief executive of the Greater Seattle Partners, a public-private business recruitment and development organization in the Emerald City, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News have confirmed.
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A spokesman for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Wednesday.
Puget Sound Business Journal first reported Tuesday that McGowan had been hired as CEO.
McGowan joined the Beltline less than a year ago, replacing Paul Morris. If McGowan departs as expected, it will create yet another major job opening that Bottoms will have to fill in her cabinet, including a new general manager for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
The Beltline is one of the city's most popular amenities and has been a boon for development along the 22-mile loop of trails. The Beltline also is expected to receive substantial funding for rapid transit — long a planned central component of the necklace of trails — from the half-penny MARTA transit sales tax that voters approved in 2016.
Many Beltline supporters have been dismayed the project didn't receive funding to complete the entire transit loop in the transit system's expansion plan released earlier this year. But that proposal could change.
But the vacancy at CEO will mean the organization will be without its top leader at a crucial moment in planning for future Beltline transit.
Prior to running the Beltline, McGowan had a key position in economic development strategy at international law firm Dentons, and he served as chief operating officer of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and as CEO of Invest Atlanta, the city's economic development arm.
McGowan also served in top economic development posts under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and in the Commerce Department under President Barack Obama.
This is a developing story…
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