Downtown Indy Inc. CEO’s quick rise to the top

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — In October, Taylor Schaffer grew to become the youngest president and chief government officer of Downtown Indy Inc., a corporation specializing in the financial success of downtown Indianapolis.

However, her journey began over a decade in the past in Terre Haute the place Schaffer grew up. “Identical factor was true with my mother. My mother grew up in Terre Haute. She graduated from the identical highschool I graduated from.”

Schaffer graduated from Indiana State College in Terre Haute with a level in journalism, after which ended up working for an promoting agency in Indianapolis. “Working for giant, main manufacturers, working within the retail and actual property area.”

In 2015, she joined the election marketing campaign for Democrat Joe Hogsett, who received the mayor’s job. Later, she took on the town authorities roles of communications director, deputy mayor, and chief of employees.

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Taylor says metropolis authorities has a direct impression on individuals’s lives, much more than she had realized. “Realizing the neighborhood teams which are impacted when violence happens of their neighborhood, understanding the challenges households face in Indianapolis.”

Taylor’s former boss mentioned her time in metropolis authorities made her the right match to guide Downtown Indy Inc. Hogsett mentioned, “At this time period as we’re popping out of a once-in-a century world pandemic, she’s very effectively positioned. She understands the town’s challenges.”

Taylor took on the function as a result of she has a ardour for residing and dealing downtown, and is pleased with how the world has remodeled through the years. “It was a way of connectivity and tradition and place that, as a child who got here up right here for back-to-school procuring, I don’t suppose I ever skilled.”

Though she by no means envisioned herself changing into the CEO of Downtown Indy Inc., Taylor says she desires to benefit from that function by working with companies and company companions to make Indy a safer and cleaner metropolis. “I typically say downtown is the explanation that I stayed in Indianapolis. Candidly, that wasn’t the life plan both. I used to be going to come back right here, I used to be going to work for promoting companies for a pair years to get sufficient expertise and to go transfer to an even bigger metropolis.”

Taylor’s recommendation to anybody aspiring to be in a management function is rarely be a afraid to say “sure” to a brand new alternative.