Julie Pacatte to lead IDA

12/15/2022

By Patsy Nicosia

Julie Pacatte to lead IDA

The Schoharie County IDA has a new CEO:
Julie Pacatte, executive director of SEEC.
Ms. Pacatte will take over the reins of the IDA effective January 1, replacing Ron Filmer Jr., who’s been CEO since 1999.
Mr. Filmer will remain part-time executive director of the Rural Preservation Corporation.
SEEC is still working out the details of what’s expected to be Ms. Pacatte’s year-long transition to the IDA, said founding member and Secretary Peter Johnson, even as it begins to focus more on Main Street and digital development.
“Julie will do an excellent job,” Mr. Filmer said Monday after the IDA voted unanimously to appoint Ms. Pacatte.
“And I’m very excited and ready to hit the ground running January 1,” Ms. Pacatte said; she’ll be splitting her time between SEEC and the IDA to start with the details still being worked out, she said afterward.
SEEC was formed in 2019 to bolster economic growth using private funds.
Mr. Johnson said they’re already looking for “a good number-two person,” to learn the ropes from Ms. Pacatte during the transition.
It will be a time of transition for SEEC as well, Mr. Johnson said, as they start to use what they’ve learned in the last three years to work more closely with villages on their Main Streets, possibly by establishing a small business loan fund.
“You need to do the big things, but you need to focus on the small ones too,” he said.
Ms. Pacatte agreed.
Five years after consultant Peter Fairweather’s report, “Shaping the Way Forward,” was completed, “It’s a good time to check in on where we are in economic development,” she said.
“Unifying the work on SEEC and the IDA makes sense and in 2022 especially, supervisors have laid some important groundwork.”