Inman tackles challenge at John Jay

When Rusty Inman found out Portland’s John Jay Center for Learning was in search of a new executive director, he remembers being  “intrigued.”
After working in pharmaceutical sales since 2002 and living in Chattanooga, Tenn., Inman, a Portland native, saw the job opportunity as a chance “to come home,” he said recently in his office at John Jay.
“It’s something different,” Inman remarked of his new position.
His years of sales and experience, he said, have been instrumental in helping him lead the learning center And he’s excited about his new career.
“There’s so much potential here,” he said of John Jay, describing it as the linchpin of the future.
Inman expresses his passion about education, and said he has read studies supporting his opinion that any education is beneficial, even if a degree isn’t earned.
“The more you learn, the more you earn,” he noted about any post-secondary education.
His duties to “keep the lights on,” as he describes it, include overseeing the GED program, Jay County High School annex, associate, bachelor degree and technology programs and fundraising. To “keep it open and thriving,” he added.
And he emphasized the importance of the organization’s effort being one embraced by the public.
“It’s a group effort,” he said. “We’re a good community. I want us to be a great community.”  
Inman graduated from Jay County High School in 1989 and from Ball State University in 1995 with a degree in fine arts. He then owned a business in Portland for a short time. But when the building his business was housed in was sold, Inman worried about what his next move would be.
John Kimmel, then of The Commercial Review, asked him for his resume, and Inman was soon working for the advertising department at the paper. He was at that position for about two years.
“It was a good foray into a sales position. I like to talk to people,” Inman said.
After gaining some sales experience, Inman moved on to selling billboards for Burkhart Advertising in Jay, Randolph, Blackford and Madison counties.
He then decided to take some time off and went on a road trip out west and down the east coast for 18 months.
Having connections from selling billboards and wanting to see “what else the world had to offer,” Inman made the decision to move to Tennessee. There he sold business and payroll checks with the company McBee.
When that company was sold, Inman put his resume online and in two weeks was hired to work for the Japanese company Daichi-Sankyo. His job was covering the company’s rural territory, “Which was great,” Inman said. “I speak small town.”
Wanting to move back to Indiana, Inman took a job in pharmaceutical sales in Indianapolis. But the field wasn’t what he was looking for, and Inman said, “I knew it was time to move on.”
That led him back to Portland and John Jay, and “I’ve been thankful ever since,” Inman said.
He sees great possibilities for John Jay, noting the basement of the building has 12,000 square feet of useable space. He sees that area as a possible place for vocational programs and hopes to share more plans soon.
Mostly, he’s looking forward to a bright future of higher learning in Jay County.
“Its exciting,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]