Jim Plump, the longtime executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., has announced his intentions to retire at the end of September this year. The announcement was made during a meeting of the JCIDC board of directors.
Plump has been leading the organization since its inception in 1984, and members of the group’s executive committee said they would soon be releasing information on the job search that will begin this month. The board hopes to have Plump’s replacement hired by August.
“We appreciate the job Jim has done during his career,” said Kevin Gabbard, who serves as president of the JCIDC board of directors. “He has influenced so much growth around Jackson County. It’s hard to imagine our area without the major corporations that Jim helped recruit and helped to grow here.”
A native of Washington County, Indiana, Plump is a graduate of the University of Evansville and also graduated from the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma. He achieved certified economic developer status in 1992 from the American Economic Development Council. He also was awarded the fellow member designation in 2013 and honorary life membership in 2019.
Plump served as founding president of the South Central Indiana Economic Development Region, is past president of the Indiana Economic Development Association and IEDA Foundation and serves on the board of directors of the Japan-America Society of Indiana.
In 2004, he was designated as a Sagamore of the Wabash by then Indiana Governor Joe Kernan, and in 2018, he was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the IEDA during the organization’s 50th anniversary celebration.