Skelton Named Economic Director

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By Mark Requet

    Following the passing of Economic Development Director, Wendeline Brumbaugh, in October 2024, Shelby County Economic Development began looking for a new director. Brumbaugh had held the position since November of 2017. On January 1, 2025, the board hired Lisa Skelton as the new director.

  Skelton is familiar with the current board and Shelby County because she had been serving as the board’s secretary since 2022.

  She moved to Shelbyville 17 years ago and has always been involved with the education system. She is currently a Special Education Process Coordinator with North Shelby High School. When the economic development position became available, she said it was something she was very interested in doing.

  “When I was the Career Resources Educator at Macon Area Career and Technical Education Center, I had the opportunity to work with workforce development and the economic development groups in in the area and that really got me to thinking that economic development and workforce development are so very important so that’s what I’ve been working towards,” said Skelton. “I know that Shelby County has a lot to offer, and we are always in the need for new enterprises and new businesses to come into the area because that’s how you grow your community, that’s how you grow your economy and that’s how you keep people moving forward.”

  Skelton has a 100-day plan that she is working on to begin her job in the new position. A few of the items she wants to cross off are updating the list of businesses that are in the county.

  “We’re going to make sure that we’re not only looking at the businesses that have registered at the courthouse, but also the independent people, the entrepreneurs that are making t-shirts out of their home or garage for example,” Skelton stated.

  She wants to upgrade the economic development’s website and upgrade its Facebook page so that it is more interactive.

  “I’m also intending to reach out to the city councils of the different communities in the county and just touch base with them as well,” said Skelton.

  As for attracting new businesses to the area, she said Shelby County is in a very unique position in that it is very rural but has access to so many things.

  “Highway 36 is a great conduit that brings people through, and Highway 15 does as well, so we also need to consider what’s going on along the highways,” said Skelton. “If you want to come and do something here there’s every possibility that you have not reached into a market that is saturated in that area.”

  Skelton said they want to build not only 36, but we want to build 15 because the highway is also Main Street for three of the towns in the county, Shelbina, Shelbyville, and Bethel.

  She added another attraction to the county are the strong school districts.   

  Existing businesses in the county can also benefit if they are looking to improve or expand.

  “With existing businesses, a lot of the times, what they are looking for is the ability to grow,” stated Skelton.

  She said they could look at how the business can do that in a manner that will hopefully not be chaotic and help figure out how to find the people to help man the expansion they want.