Ohio Southeast Economic Development has hired Nicole Havens as its new sites and infrastructure specialist, the organization announced, adding a Jackson County native to its push to get southeast Ohio ready for new investment. The appointment took effect Sept. 16.
Havens comes to OhioSE from the Jackson County Economic Development Partnership, where she served as assistant director. In the new role she will focus on site readiness and infrastructure planning across the organization’s multi-county southeastern Ohio footprint.
She will work alongside Donna Hrezo on the Ohio Site Inventory Program and the Vibrant Communities Program, state-backed efforts to catalog development-ready sites and prepare communities for business and industrial projects.
Her duties will also include responding to site-selection submissions from companies scouting locations and hosting site visits for prospective employers looking at the region.
OhioSE leaders say the hire strengthens the region’s ability to compete for projects at a time when site readiness often decides where companies land. The organization markets a 25-county region of southern and eastern Ohio to national site selectors.