Michael Stanley Named as New Director of Montgomery County Development Authority

Michael Stanley, 27, was hired as the new executive director of the Montgomery County Development Authority on Monday, May 12, following the retirement of previous director Joe Filippone.

Stanley is a Montgomery County native, graduating from Montgomery County High School before attending the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College to study agricultural business. He put his education on hold to move back to Montgomery County to operate a farm with his wife’s family, though he currently continues his education with Louisiana State University online.

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Prior to accepting the director position, Stanley worked for the local Chick-Fil-A in Vidalia and beyond as the restaurant director, working primarily with community members rather than in the actual store. He had been interested in the Development Authority’s director position prior to seeing the job posting.

“I had always kind of thought to myself that this would be something that I think, if it ever opened up, would be something that I would be interested in pursuing,” Stanley said. “So it was one of those moments in life when I was beginning to look for something else anyways to kind of change things up.”

As the director, Stanley’s role is to encourage Montgomery County’s economic growth, using community communication skills and key relationships he gained during his time with Chick-Fil-A.

“I think a lot of the foundational pieces of each role kind of lines up,” says Stanley. “A lot of what I was doing was working with people in our community and surrounding communities, and so a lot of those relationships that I have built there have kind of transferred here in some way.”

Stanley declined to share specific details on upcoming plans as to not give the community false expectations, but one of his goals as director is to enable accessible and productive communication between the Development Authority and the citizens of Montgomery County. 

“I’m thinking through a process to communicate more directly with the community as a whole so I can get feedback from them and allow them, within reason, in a proactive manner,” said Stanley.