TRIDEC picks new CEO familiar with Snake River dams and DOE projects
An economic development specialist with experience both in Eastern Washington and working with the Department of Energy has been picked to lead the Tri-City Development Council.
Karl Dye, of Lewiston, Idaho, will replace Carl Adrian as TRIDEC president and chief executive.
Adrian is retiring at the end of the month after 16 years as head of the region’s leading economic development agency. He has been TRIDEC’s longest-serving president.
Dye is expected to take over in early February.
Dye is president and chief executive of Valley Vision, a combination public and private economic development organization for the Lewiston and Clarkston, Wash., area. The agency represents two cities, two counties and three ports.
As in the Tri-Cities area, the future of the lower Snake River dams has been a key economic issue in the Clarkston area.
“Karl’s experience in bringing cities, counties and ports together will be invaluable to TRIDEC,” said Eric Pearson, chairman of TRIDEC’s board of directors. “He understands the broad economic benefit of acting with a unified voice.”
TRIDEC is a membership-based program that promotes the Mid-Columbia economy through business retention and recruitment and trade relationships.
New CEO worked with Battelle
It focuses both on promoting economic diversification and advocating for adequate federal funding for environmental cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation.
Dye has experience working with DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, DOE, Battelle and other energy-related contractors, according to TRIDEC. Battelle has held the contract to manage the DOE national laboratory in Richland, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, since it opened in 1965.
According to Dye’s LinkedIn profile, he has been with Valley Vision since June 2018.
Before that he was director of corporate and community relations for four years at the Idaho PTECH Network, a nonprofit working to prepare Idaho high school students for well-paying jobs and give businesses a pipeline of employees.
He also has been the executive director of the Bonner County Economic Development Corp. in Idaho, a county commissioner and a marketing director.
Dye said he hopes to carry on Adrian’s legacy and uphold TRIDEC’s history of leadership.
TRIDEC, based in Kennewick, has about 300 members and has worked to promote the local economy for 55 years.