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Croquet Anyone?

February 22, 2006

Barry Matherly might have ended up in Lincoln County by chance. A native of Washington, D.C., Matherly moved to Huntersville with his wife, Monica, for a career move on her part. But somehow or another, Matherly ended up being the executive director of the Lincoln Economic Development Association, a private non-profit corporation that facilitates industrial, office and commercial development in Lincolnton and Lincoln County. The position would land Matherly his third job as an executive director of an economic development association. The day he got the call about the job, he was supposed to be at the beach, but had to return home because of Hurricane Dennis. Not knowing anything about Lincoln County and not even having planned on working once relocated, by November 1999, Matherly became executive director. The rest is history. Before coming to Lincoln County, Matherly was the director at another economic development association corporation in Goochland County in Richmond, VA and also in Pulaski, VA. Matherly attended James Madison University where he got a degree in Management. He worked at J.C. Penney in management for five years, while doing some volunteer work in commercial revitalization. Before long, he realized he liked volunteering better than his career. So he took the plunge and attended Virginia Tech where he got a degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in economic development. Now, years later, Matherly said LEDA has grown. In fact, Matherly said this is their best year ever with more than $100 million in new investments in the county. Two hobbies that Matherly has are playing croquet and collecting Frisbees. One day, he hopes to play croquet professionally. Having played since he was a kid, he started up again after college. He even organized a croquet tournament that occurs once a year in March at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. His other hobby of collecting Frisbees also started when he was a child. His collection is now up to 500. Everywhere he goes, he buys a Frisbee as a reminder of where he has visited. Matherly has two daughters, Brooke, 13 and Blair, 10.