ROCHESTER - The director of a prominent downtown Rochester organization has been tapped to lead the city of Bloomington's port authority.
Holly Masek of the Rochester Downtown Alliance (RDA) will leave her post next month after almost four years leading the downtown area's business booster.
"My career decisions have been about finding opportunities to support the development of great places, while seeking out settings where I can continually be challenged and grow," Masek said in a statement. "I felt throughout the process that Bloomington was a place where I could do that."
The RDA tracks business trends and promotes activities to draw people to the downtown area throughout the year. The organization is responsible for Thursdays Downtown, a weekly summer music festival that routinely attracts hundreds of people to the area. RDA staffers also sponsor start-up grants for people to hold their own events downtown.
Masek steered the RDA through the COVID-19 pandemic, where the RDA pivoted from large-scale events to offer smaller activities in the downtown area and help restaurants extend outdoor dining areas as a means to attract customers.
She will leave the RDA on Feb. 10 and start her new role as Bloomington's port authority administrator on Feb. 21.