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Two weeks after Wake Forest was selected
to join the state’s Main Street Program,
the Downtown Revitalization Corporation
has named its new executive director,
Christina Archer. Archer began her new
job Monday, Oct. 9.
Archer has over 15 years of
experience in the consumer, industrial
and technology industries, DRC Chairman
Cristiana Walkley said. “She has a
strong organization and management
background with significant experience
in marketing, promotions, grant writing,
database management, market research and
analysis, media purchasing, brand
management and graphic design.
“Tina’s background and
experience are a perfect match for the
variety of tasks required for the
position of executive director,” Walkley
said.
And she has been preparing
for the position, in a way, since she,
her husband and their three boys moved
to Wake Forest last November. She’s been
a faithful part of the audience for the
town board meetings, sitting quietly on
the back row and meeting a few people.
“We’re originally from
Michigan,” Archer said. Her husband, who
works in the pharmaceutical industry,
was about to be transferred to New York
City. “We said, no, that’s not going to
work for us. We have always lived in
small towns.” They decided to look for
an area that is warmer and chose Wake
Forest, partly because of the downtown.
“I couldn’t imagine not having that.”
In fact, when she arrived
from Chicago on her first trip to the
area, her husband, who was here before
her, said, “I’ve got to show you the
downtown” and they looked at South White
Street before they went to the
subdivision. “That really got me hooked
that day,” Archer said.
One of Archer’s goals is to
convince the newer town residents like
hers in Northampton – “Eighty percent of
my neighbors are transplants.” – to
“look at downtown Wake Forest as the
heart of their community and to try to
build that connection.” She wants the
people who have moved into Heritage, St.
Ive’s, Stonegate, Margot’s Pond and the
others to “eat, shop and bring the kids
to all the events like the Christmas
Parade. There certainly is a lot to do.”
Archer had a lot of praise
for work the DRC and the town have done
in the recent past, including the
Renaissance Plan. “Just having one is
very impressive,” Archer said, and even
more impressive is that the town and its
officials have tactics and goals to
implement the plan.
“So much has already been
done,” Archer said, but a lot of it has
of necessity – planning, applying for
grants, getting proposals – has been
behind the scenes. “I need to do things
that are more visible to the residents,
to the public.
She will also face that fine
balancing act: “How do we maintain the
history and the charm and still
accommodate the change and growth?”
Archer has a varied
background that, she says, should be an
asset in her new position. After
graduating from Michigan State
University, she was hired by Proctor &
Gamble in sales and marketing, partly
because she had already had a job with a
Lansing newspaper, selling display ads.
She moved on to a marketing and division
manager position with Atlas Company, a
small oil company that was growing, “a
place where people had to wear a lot of
hats. I handled a large budget and
created and designed their web site from
scratch.” Her next move was to a
software company, Honovi Solutions,
after which she took time off to have
her children, who are now 6, 4 and 3. |
