TexAmericas Center Executive Director Bill Cork has been named as the sole finalist for the position of CEO/president by the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. The Board is entering into employment contract negotiations with Cork, who has held his current position with TexAmericas Center since 2007.
Once negotiations are complete, the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors will host a press conference to finalize the announcement and discuss their vision for future development of the organization.
“Economic analysis and development is Bill Cork’s strong suit,” said DeMita Torrans, Chairman of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. “We believe Bill’s wealth of experience in urban and regional planning, legislative relationships and first-hand knowledge of working with the Department of Defense underscores our decision to extend this offer to him. The Board is pleased he is considering our offer of employment and is confident his professional background aligns with the strategic goals of the future of the organization.”
In his current role with TexAmericas Center, Cork has overall responsibility for the economic redevelopment of a 12,000 acre industrial complex in the heart of Bowie County, Texas that includes parts of the former Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant and Red River Army Depot. TexAmericas Center is home to more than two dozen commercial tenants and land owners as well as components of the Red River Army Depot mission. The complex is a mixed-use development including residential, golf course, commercial and industrial development. Cork also has responsibility for the water, sewer and industrial waste water treatment systems that serve a 52 square mile area and all of the Red River Army Depot and TexAmericas Center property.
Cork serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Defense Communities, the TXDOT I-69 Segment #1 Committee, is a board member of Christus Ark-La-Tex (St. Michael’s Hospital), and a member of the Knights of Columbus, the American Legion and the Marine Corps League. He is involved with the P-16 Initiative and the Business Advisory Council at Texas A&M University Texarkana.
Prior to arriving in NE Texas in 2007, Bill’s 25-year career included:
- Co-owner of Rock Creek Enterprises, a real estate sales and consulting firm.
- Vice President of National Accounts and Regional Vice President at Sempra Energy, where he brought electricity, natural gas and demand side management products into the newly deregulated Midwest Region (IL, MI, OH).
- Principle at ICF Consulting Group, where he led their Federal programs division and provided consulting services in the area of real estate, land economics and public-private ventures. He supported the Army’s BRAC real estate program and commercial customers in the areas of DoD utilities and housing privatization programs.
- Researcher and post graduate research fellow at the US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, where he provided economic analysis and policy advice to senior Army and DOD officials on redevelopment of closing military facilities and privatization initiatives.
- He is the author or co-author of numerous published technical reports and documents, including a national guidance document for the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President during the Clinton Administration. He also served on a detail assignment in the Pentagon where he worked for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Housing and on BRAC, utilities and housing privatization initiatives.
Bill is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and obtained both his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His wife of 29 years, Nina, is an art educator at Pleasant Grove High School and a commercial artist. They have 4 children ranging in ages from 18-28.
Posts
