After spending more than a quarter of a year without a leader, Ketchum's Community Development Corp. will have a new executive director come Wednesday, April 21.
The CDC announced Friday that Jon Duval, Ketchum resident and Idaho Mountain Express reporter, has been given the reins and will lead the nonprofit corporation. The 11-member board of directors chose 31-year-old Duval from a list of about 20 applicants.
Neil Bradshaw, CDC board president, said Duval's working relationship—through the newspaper—with the CDC board, community and elected officials throughout Blaine County will be a benefit.
"Jon brings youth, enthusiasm and on-the-ground earned knowledge," Bradshaw said. "Most importantly, he has a passion for our community."
Duval is an avid cyclist, skier and member of the Sun Valley Suns men's ice hockey team. He moved to the Wood River Valley in 2006 after spending five years abroad, working in the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand. The Williams College graduate has worked as an investment banker, an English teacher, bicycle messenger and—most recently—newspaper reporter the past three years.
"I'm extremely enthusiastic about this opportunity to leverage what I have learned and the connections I have made over the past three years," Duval said. "This is a real chance for me to invest in my home and help Ketchum tackle issues, such as making it a more viable place for young families to live, work and play well into the future."
The CDC is a private, nonprofit organization started in July 2006 with seed money from the city of Ketchum. Its accomplishments include the Northwood Place affordable-housing complex, now under construction next to the Wood River Community YMCA in Ketchum, and the Ketchum Town Square, scheduled to start construction this spring and be completed by the Fourth of July.
Previous director Neil Morrow stepped down at the beginning of January for undisclosed reasons after only 11 months on the job. Before Morrow was Gary Rapport, who resigned on July 8, 2008, after only two months pursuant to a felony burglary charge in California, for which he was arrested later that day on a California warrant. The charge dated back to 1997 when Rapport allegedly stole money from Leisure World Market, a grocery store in Seal Beach.
Rapport eventually pleaded guilty to the charge as part of an agreement that it could be reduced to a misdemeanor if he met certain conditions. Allegations also surfaced of an aggravated assault charge in Bozeman, Mont., where Rapport lived prior to moving to Ketchum.
Preceding Rapport was Tom Hudson, who left in April 2007 about five months before his contract with the city expired. In his resignation letter to the CDC board, Hudson pointed to several reasons for his departure, including his concern that payment of his $200,000-per-year contract salary might be delayed a year. Hudson helped the city develop the Fourth Street Heritage Corridor.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Jon Duval
