MANSFIELD – To everything there is a season. Bill Sharp will end his time as the director of the Mansfield-Richland Area Education Foundation during his favorite season.
“I love fall,” Sharp said on a particularly brisk October morning. “I have family that loves hot and humid weather, but I just don’t like it. I like the seasons and the rolling hills in Richland County.”
That love of Richland County led to a 16-year career as director of the Chamber Foundation. It makes it that much more difficult to imagine leaving this place as Sharp prepares to retire on Oct. 21.
“I’ve never done this before so I don’t know how to be retired,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll find out I guess.”
A native of Richland County, Sharp graduated from Malabar High School in 1966 and earned his undergraduate degree from Ashland University. From there, he attended graduate school in Denver, Colorado and also lived for three years in Florida during the 1970s before moving back to his hometown.
After working in the aircraft business and the media for most of his career, Sharp took over as director of the Chamber Foundation in 2000.
“I remembered my experience with Leadership Unlimited (in 1988), and although that was only one component of the foundation it had a real impact on my life, and I thought I’d really enjoy it,” Sharp said. “So I applied, and fortunately was hired.”
Since then, Sharp has overseen a number of successful programs through the Foundation, including Leadership Unlimited, Young Leaders Institute, Economic Club and Inside Richland County. In 2015, Sharp launched the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA! Richland), an innovative program which teaches students how to launch and run their own businesses.
“Honestly, I was thinking about retiring last year, but when YEA! came about I said I can’t leave now, this is too much fun, and it was,” Sharp said. “We just finished recruiting for this year’s class, we have a larger class from last year and some new schools participating. Most of the volunteers, from speakers to investors to field trip hosts, they’ve all come back.”
Sharp’s favorite part about the various programs he oversees is easily the people – emerging leaders who are excited to learn more about Richland County. He’s quick to credit the success of the programs not to himself, but to the participants.
“Leadership Unlimited, for example, is not a life-changing experience for everybody, but it has been for a few,” Sharp said. “To watch those few suddenly say ‘wow, I had no idea this was going on in Richland County and I have to be involved,’ that’s been very rewarding. I expect them to discover new things in the county and meet a lot of people, but a life-changing experience is a nice side effect.”
Sharp has said repeatedly that he’s got “the best job in Richland County,” so the decision to retire did not come easily. Mostly, Sharp attributes his retirement to age, a function of not just years.
“A few years ago I was watching a speaker and I look over, and a young lady is looking down at her phone, and I could feel myself getting mad,” he said. “When the speaker stopped, the young lady made a very cogent point about the speaker’s subject.
“It just occurred to me this year that she might have been taking notes. And I thought, it’s time for someone that’s a little more savvy and closer to the age of the young professionals I’m working with, I think it would be more helpful to them.”
When it comes to his replacement, Sharp hopes the next director of the Chamber Foundation brings a touch of youth to the position, as well as an open mind.
“I grew up in Richland County, and I learned so much about things going on in Richland County that I was not aware of, and met people from areas I was not familiar with,” he said. “I learn every year so many new things, it’s really fun and it’s surprising to me how diverse and exciting things are in Richland County.”
After a career dedicated to immersing himself in Richland County, Sharp and his wife Lucia are moving away from the county for his retirement. The couple purchased a home on Lake Erie in Port Clinton, and shortly after Sharp’s retirement will be moving there full-time.
It’s a bittersweet feeling for Sharp, not being fully involved in the county for the first time in over a decade. But in a way, his job will continue – learning all about his new community, and enjoying himself along the way.
“It’s going to be odd I think, but new experience is what it’s all about it, so let’s go and find out and have fun,” Sharp said. “It’s been a great ride.”
