After 10 years as executive director of the Downtown Hattiesburg Association, Andrea Saffle is proud of how much the downtown area has prospered throughout the last decade – and as such, is also comfortable passing the baton to someone else.
Saffle – who has been the driving force behind the vast majority of that growth – announced her retirement on August 30, saying the time had come to step away from the helm of the organization to focus more on family. She will stay on as executive director until the end of this year.
“This last year has really been a challenging year for me; I had a lot of family things going on,” Saffle said. “I need to focus on my family and my mom, and I feel like with where we’re heading in downtown, we need somebody who can put in what it takes to take us to the next level.
“I feel like we’ve set downtown up for success; we’ve completed our strategic plan and we’ve got a clear path to where we want to go, going forward. So I thought it was a good time now for us to do some interviews and try to find the right person who can take it to the next level. It just feels like it’s the right time.”
Saffle graduated from Picayune Memorial High School before attending Pearl River Community College. She then graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi.
She spent 16 years at Turtle Creek Mall, where she served as marketing director, and had a brief stint with MegaGate before that company sold out to C Spire.
She began her career with the Downtown Hattiesburg Association in 2014.
“I think all of those (previous) positions really prepared me for my role with downtown – learning technology and property management and working with merchant’s associations,” Saffle said.
As executive director of the downtown association, Saffle has spearheaded numerous initiatives that have been pivotal to that area, including but not limited to design projects aimed at enhancing curb appeal and landscaping to organizing large-scale events such as the Hattiesburg Craft Beer Festival and the Star-Spangled Celebration on the River.
She was also instrumental in launching the “To-Go Cup” initiative, which allows patrons to carry alcoholic drinks outside restaurants in designated areas, as well as wayfinding signage and lighting projects.
And that’s not to mention all the new businesses that have taken up residence in downtown over the last several years, which has helped to fill several buildings that were empty – some just a few short months ago. That includes Hattiesburgers and Blues, The Author Shoppe, Sincerely Grocery and Pop&Co.
“And we’ve added (several apartments), with Preservation Crossing and the Komp Building,” Saffle said. “It’s fulfilling, and it’s very satisfying to know how far we’ve come in the last 10 years.”
But Saffle’s favorite thing about being executive director of the association is simply seeing people come back to that area during its resurgence.
“Really, my goal has just always been that I want everybody to love downtown the way that I do, and see it the way that I do – as this really special place,” she said. “All the restaurants that have come and are doing so well and flourishing – there’s just such a great energy of people wanting to locate downtown right now.
“That was my pinnacle. And I’ve said all along that when we get a hotel in downtown, that’s going to be my piece de resistance – and that’s on the horizon.”
“When we moved downtown, I fell in love with downtown, and that is truly where my heart is and that is not going to change,” Saffle said.
“It’s just the right time for me to step away, but I’m not going to go far. I’ll stay involved with downtown, and with so many of the projects that I still want to see come to completion. I feel like I can walk away and feel like I had an impact on downtown and be proud of the accomplishments we’ve made, and I’m confident in my heart that it’s going to continue.”
