The city of Cape Coral welcomed T. Sharon Woodberry to her new position as the economic and business development officer last week.
“I’m looking forward to having a role in shaping the tremendous growth happening in Cape Coral,” said Woodberry, who replaced Ricardo Noguera, who resigned several months ago to move out of state. “This is a wonderful community, and it feels amazing to call it my home.”
Woodberry’s move from Ohio to Florida was one she and her husband anticipated over the years when planning their future and where they wanted to retire. She said Cape Coral landed on their radar because of the amount of waterfront property available.
“Once we came down for a visit, we immediately fell in love with the area and decided to purchase a lot to build on eventually,” Woodberry said. “I kept up on developments in the area and decided to apply when this job opportunity became available.”
Woodberry graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in public administration and has over 20 years of experience in economic development. She previously worked in Ohio, where she was promoted to lead the city of Youngstown’s economic development efforts in 2007 as the Director of Economic Development.
Under her leadership, the city of Youngstown received awards from the Region V U.S. Small Business Administration and the State of Ohio for its small business assistance programs.
Woodberry said she hopes to bring the same success to the city of Cape Coral starting by meeting with business and community stakeholders and her colleagues at city hall.
“There is tremendous value in gaining firsthand knowledge of their experiences, challenges, and their perspectives on where they see opportunities,” Woodberry said. “I plan to start by first asking, ‘What short and long-term strategies and plans are already underway, and how can I help facilitate these efforts?’”
Many of the development challenges posed are a product of land use and are infrastructure-related, she said, and there are a lot of committed city officials and staff working to solve these issues.
