By Sarah Lang/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon — After more than 35 years in the mortgage banking business, Mike Caldwell, a former all-star Lebanon High School basketball player, is banking on a career switch.
The Boone County Community Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that provides grants to other non-profit programs to aid the county, hired Caldwell June 1 as the new executive director.
“I told Mike we couldn’t do much better than picking an all-star point guard to lead the team,” said Tom Easterday, the foundation’s board president. “And he’s already hit the ground running, which is what we need.”
Caldwell replaces Nancy Turner, who resigned from the position to attend to some family matters, Easterday said.
“She wanted to spend time with her family,” he said.
Caldwell was on the board of the foundation, most recently serving as treasurer.
In his previous job, Caldwell said he had a lot of stress and many deadlines, so this new position was something he was looking forward to.
“It’s nice to live in Boone County, give in Boone County and see the results of that giving,” he said.
Easterday said that since Caldwell is a lifelong resident of the county, he already had the knowledge of Boone County’s needs and non-profit organizations, along with the familiarity of the foundation. And that was a “tremendous benefit.” He also said Caldwell’s background in finance would be “very helpful.”
“So far, he’s been great,” Easterday said. “And he already has a lot of contacts, and that will serve him well. I think he will do a fantastic job.”
Caldwell began full-time work as executive director July 1, as throughout June he was working both at the foundation and tying up loose ends at his previous job.
