Spartanburg Chamber hires former city manager, superintendent as consultants

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The Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce has hired former Greenville economic development director Nancy Whitworth and retired Spartanburg superintendent Russell Booker to serve as consultants on economic development and inclusion projects.

Whitworth will offer guidance on fostering corporate development with a focus on office product growth, multi-family housing strategies and other incentives for attracting corporate headquarters to the region, according to a news release. She will also inform the city’s downtown development partnership.

“Nancy, through her experience and contacts, will bring significant capacity to our corporate recruitment efforts and will enable us to strengthen our partnerships with our economic development allies, particularly the city of Spartanburg,” Allen Smith, president and CEO of the Spartanburg chamber, said in the release.

Whitworth formerly served as Greenville’s interim city manager, deputy city manager and economic and community development director for roughly 40 years before retiring in January.

“Nancy brings a heightened level of expertise and experience to help guide our team and our community as rapidly as possible through recovery and onward to growth,” Katherine O’Neill, chief economic development officer for the chamber’s Economic Futures Group, said in the release.

When Booker retired as the school superintendent of Spartanburg’s seventh district this academic year, he said he was ready to start something new. He is slated to fill the Spartanburg Academic Movement’s executive director position and was recently hired by the chamber as a diversity and economic inclusion consultant through the leadership agency One Acorn, according to the news release.

“I am excited to shift from a school-centric focus to a comprehensive people- and place-based focus,” Booker said in the release. “I am especially eager to continue serving exceptional school districts and higher education institutions while engaging stakeholders to provide connections to our growing business and industry sectors. Just as an acorn contains a mighty oak, we believe that everyone holds powerful potential. We envision a unified community striving for a just society.”

Booker is launching One Acorn this summer with his wife Sheryl to assist organizations, individuals and communities “fulfill the ‘potential within’ through enlightened, authentic, values-based leadership,” said the release.

The agency’s training services will include organization management tactics, diversity and equity strategies and speaking engagements.

“We must do more to address our community’s economic disparities,” Smith said in the release. “Dr. Booker will drive bold DEI (diversity and economic inclusion) outcomes across the county."