Lynch's Landing hires new executive director

By: Bryan Gentry | New Era Progress
Published: April 28, 2011

The downtown revitalization organization Lynch’s Landing has hired a new executive director.

Anna Bentson, currently the director of public relations and marketing at Poplar Forest, will begin working with the downtown nonprofit next week.

Out of the 65 applicants for the job, Bentson’s enthusiasm and experience with nonprofits and public relations made her ideal, said Jackie Wilkes, president of the Lynch’s Landing board of directors.

The board hopes Bentson will build on the momentum of existing downtown programs, such as the Friday Cheers summer concert series, to bring more people downtown.

“We have great opportunities which we look forward to achieving in the coming months and years,” Wilkes said.

The last full-time Lynch’s Landing executive director, Angela Hamilton, resigned about one year ago. Since then, Events Manager Chris McCune has doubled as acting executive director, but he recently accepted a job managing events in Nashville, he said.

Even before McCune announced his departure, the nonprofit was looking for a new executive director. “Last year we really moved forward with the staff we had in place,” Wilkes said. “We’ve determined that we were asking a lot of our staff.”

Lynch’s Landing worked with the city of Lynchburg, which pays the salary of the executive director, in the hiring process.

The job will keep Bentson busy right from the start: Lynch’s Landing has two events scheduled for next week, including a “Downtown Diva Crawl” that drew more than 500 people last year.

When Bentson first moved to Lynchburg in 2007, she lived in the City Market Lofts on Main Street and got a first glimpse of downtown life. “I fell in love with downtown,” she said.

“It’s uniquely vibrant and coming back to life,” Bentson said. “I think Lynchburg has a lot to be proud of.”