New temporary leader of Uptown Columbus is a familiar face to the organization

Randy Lunsford has been named interim president and CEO of Uptown Columbus Inc. and the Uptown Columbus Business Improvement District, or BID.

According to Helena Coates, chair of Uptown Columbus, Lunsford was appointed by both boards February 14, and started work on Monday.

Lunsford is serving in the role vacated by Ross Horner, who resigned the week of January 24 after holding the president and CEO position for a little over three years. No reason was given for his departure.

Lunsford, a lifelong Columbus resident, retired from Synovus in August 2017 after 40 years. He formerly served as chair of the Uptown Columbus board, serving for three and a half years starting in 2004, and was part of the board that hired former president and CEO Richard Bishop.

“With my organizational skills, my banking background, my contacts in the community and so forth, they thought it was a good fit,” Lunsford said. “I know 85 percent of the board members on both boards just through community involvement so you couple all that together and that’s why I think I’m here.”

Lunsford said it’s his job to make sure the transition between Horner and himself “as smooth and seamless as possible.”

“The BID is operating fine, the whitewater management is going great also,” he said. “As far as Uptown is concerned, the major issue is with Allie Bone, who is our events coordinator, and I both basically being new on the job, we’re trying to get our arms around all the events.”

The search for a permanent replacement for Horner continues.

“The search committee will consist of five members from each board—Uptown Columbus and BID—and will begin meeting in the next week or two to update and develop job description, determine timeline and the potential of engaging with a search firm to help in the process,” Coates said.

Uptown will be engaging third-party marketing contractors like Yalla Public Relations to make sure events such as the upcoming Spring Food Truck Festival, Market Days and Friday night concerts continue as planned, Lunsford said.

Lunsford said he is excited for the opportunity to serve the community, but that’s he’s nervous because of how drastically Uptown Columbus and the Central Business District has changed since he served as chair of the board.

“Even though I still worked at Synovus and was around it, the dynamics of Uptown Columbus are different...adding the whitewater, adding the zip lines, expanding all the businesses...who would have thought 20 years ago we’d have four or five hotels in the general area,” he said.

Coates said via email Tuesday the boards are enthusiastic to introduce Lunsford as interim president and CEO.

“(Lunsford) met with teams from both the Uptown and BID and was overwhelmingly identified as the right fit to continue to move our organization forward as we move into the search for the permanent leader,” Coates said. “He is excited to be in a position to give back to this organization he loves and has always remained passionate about.”

Uptown Inc. is funded by event income and private contributions from corporations, individuals and foundations, and focuses on the economic development of downtown.

The BID, as it is commonly called, is funded by an additional tax levied on downtown property owners. It focuses on safety and cleanliness. Both organizations are involved in marketing downtown and promoting events to attract people to the area.

A previous version of this article inaccurately described the funding structure of Uptown Columbus Inc. The organization is funded by event income and private contributions from corporations, individuals and foundations.

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 6:00 AM.