For Immediate Release                           
Lona Duvall                  620.271.0388

Lona DuVall, interim Finney County Economic Development Corporation president, was named president and chief executive officer Thursday morning by FCEDC Board chairman Tom Walker. The decision was made Tuesday in an executive session near the end of the Board’s regular monthly meeting.

“The Board, as well as the funding partners, felt Lona was the best candidate to help shape the future of economic development in Finney County,” said Walker. “When named interim president, she immediately set to work talking to clients who weren’t previously even on our radar and hasn’t slowed down since. Lona was definitely the right choice to move forward a fairly aggressive economic development agenda.”

DuVall, who began as the corporation’s director of business retention, was moved to interim president when Eric Depperschmidt stepped down in mid- November 2011. Since taking over the county economic development helm, she has been instrumental in landing T P & L, a wind component distribution center and logistics partner (30 immediate primary jobs with the potential to hit 125), the Jones Big Lowe project off the Highway 50 bypass near Holcomb now in development, and the Southwest Kansas Dairy Initiative that launched a focused effort on recruiting dairies and dairy processors to Finney County. Additionally, DuVall is working with 10 active prospects who have shown interest in either relocating or expanding into Finney County.

Before coming to FCEDC, DuVall worked primarily in the banking industry and has developed a good working knowledge of business law, financing and creative financial structures, retail, marketing, education and healthcare over the last 12 years.

A Leoti native, she attended Garden City Community College and Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, OK, majoring in business. She has a son Hunter who will graduate in May from Garden City High School and from GCCC with an associates degree in firefighting. He is currently a Holcomb volunteer firefighter.