PDA taps Hanford Main Street leader for top post PDA taps Hanford Main Street leader for top post (November 02, 2001)

Pamela Stoddard starts Nov. 12

Pamela Stoddard, 38, assistant director of the Hanford, Calif., Main Street Program, has been named executive director of the Pleasanton Downtown Association, effective Nov. 12. She replaces Tim Meese, who resigned the post after only seven months on the job.

In Hanford, a 55,000-population city in the Central Valley 40 miles southwest of Fresno, Stoddard reports to Craig Scharton, who served as executive director of the Pleasanton association from 1998 until last year.

"Pamela Stoddard will be the best director the Pleasanton Downtown Association has ever had," Scharton said. "She has the right combination of vision and organizational skills. Everyone in Hanford loves her."

Stoddard holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Florida at Gainesville, and spent a number of years in retail and branch banking, including as a manager, in Florida. She and her husband, Albert (Bert) moved to Athens, Ga., where both undertook graduate work at the University of Georgia. She is completing her master's in Historical Preservation while he is finishing his doctorate in Agronomy.

When Bert Stoddard accepted a position in the Central Valley as a consulting agronomist, they relocated to Hanford, where she served as director of the Hanford-Carnegie Museum for two years. She also worked with that city's Main Street USA program, first as head of its economic restructuring committee and then as full-time assistant director since last January.

Scharton successfully led the campaign to win acceptance for Pleasanton into the California Main Street program, a prestigious affiliation of cities throughout the state that have vibrant downtowns. But he left within weeks of gaining that recognition, and little has been done since then to make use of those resources.

"Pleasanton got the PDA certified as Main Street USA just as Craig was leaving," Stoddard said. "One of my first steps as executive director will be to see how this certification can help Pleasanton's downtown."

Jeff Leuchi, president of the PDA, said the PDA board had 30 applicants for the director's position and narrowed the list down to three top applicants before deciding on Stoddard.

"It was the feeling of our selection committee that she is by far the most qualified," Leuchi said. "Like the master's degree in Historic Preservation: How many people do you know with that kind of a college degree? Her experience in the Main Street USA will help us move forward with this program in Pleasanton."

Leuchi said the PDA will host a reception for Stoddard from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Main Street Brewery, 830 Main St.