Jay's Bickel in Blackford post

Blackford County has turned to a product of its neighbor to the east to be its new leader.

Jay County native Colton Bickel, 27, has been selected as the new executive director of Blackford County Economic Development Corporation.

He will take over the position June 1 from current director Jacob Evertt, who has worked withe the corporation for five years.

Bickel will be one of the youngest executive directors in the organization’s history.

“I’m humbled and excited to have this opportunity,” Bickel said. “It means a lot to be selected at the age that I am. I’m thankful with them having the confidence in me to be able to do the job.”

Having grown up in rural Jay County, Bickel said the new position over Blackford County is personal.

“I’ve grown up in Jay County being next to Blackford County,” said the Pennville native. “There is an added level of pride just with the fact that I am from around that area.”

Bickel started off his collegiate career by studying music at Ball State University and found out that it really wasn’t what he wanted, so he switched to business.

From there he was hired as an intern with Fort Wayne’s Sturtz Public Management Group, getting to learn about business for several years before being hired full time after graduating from IPFW’s Doermer School of Business in 2012.

During his time working for Sturtz, Bickel worked in more than 15 rural communities gained experience leading projects and writing grant applications.

“I just fell in love with the job,” Bickel said. “Having growing up in rural communities I knew what it was like going in, but to effect change in rural communities and see community members rally up around an idea and push forward to see change happen, is really special.”

Bickel’s hiring as BCEDC’s new executive director comes after an extensive search by the group’s board, which was “looking for someone with strong interpersonal and leadership qualities, solid organizations skills, and proven successes in economic and community development,” according to a press release.

They felt Bickel has all those qualities.

“We liked his qualifications and saw that Colton amplifies high leadership potential,” said board president Dan Borgenheimer “He has a track record of success. Through the interview process, he exemplifies a good disposition towards working in teams and working with others.”

Borgenheimer said BCEDC hopes to see successful project implementation, job retention and expansion in Blackford County, as well as potential retail and commercial development expansion downtown.

Bickel said he has already been planning to do all of that for Blackford County, as he wants to focus on community need and economic development.

Those efforts will start with transforming downtowns.

“I think both Montpelier and Hartford City have great downtowns with space available to really transform and I think that is what they are trying to do at this point,” Bickel said. “That will be something that we will look to do right away.”

From an economic standpoint, Bickel said advancing downtown areas will keep and attract more businesses, which brings more jobs and increases the quality of life.

“You want to keep as many businesses as you can in the downtown area because that’s where community members really view how they are doing,” he said. “The success of their community can be measured in their downtown.

“I think its important to really have a focus on both community need and economic development. The growth that you are investing … it’s kind of a circle, once you get going, hopefully it just continues to snowball and you have more growth and development.”

He feels ready to take on the position and wants Blackford County residents to know that he is one of them.

“I am not coming in with a big city mindset,” he said. “I’m a rural guy just like them just coming in just trying to better the community.”