Advisory Board Members
Lana Justice
My husband, Bruce, and I are owners of 224 CoWork Space and Durham Hall. We have three grandchildren and two furry family members. We enjoy the challenge and reward of watching new life being breathed into Walhalla and sharing what old buildings can become. Although I wasn’t born and raised in Walhalla, my family moved here after my father retired from a career in the Navy and wanted to live in the “prettiest place he had ever visited.” I’m a 1983 Walhalla graduate and very excited to participate in our town’s revival.
Emily Roberts
Emily is a native of Spartanburg, SC, but calls herself an Oconee native at heart. After attending Clemson University, and receiving her bachelors in Elementary Education, Emily married her husband Josh, and moved to his hometown of Walhalla. After starting the first Foothills YMCA afterschool program in Oconee County, she was able to build many connections with school district leaders and positive stakeholders in the community. The Foothills YMCA was the first place that taught her how to truly appreciate private partnerships. Eventually, Emily started teaching at Fair Oak Elementary and later moved to Walhalla Elementary School where she taught 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Somewhere along the way, her now 5 year old daughter, Charlotte, was born and Emily knew that she wanted Walhalla to be a place where kids just like Charlotte would grow up and want to return to. This started Emily’s push for growth in the town she calls home. Emily now serves as the Assistant Principal at Walhalla Elementary School. She serves on the Walhalla Oktoberfest Committee, the Walhalla Civic Auditorium Board, and now the Main Street Advisory Board. Her and her family also just bought the old Ansel House on Main Street Walhalla and are working to restore it. As a family they have made it their life work to preserve the beauty of this small town and push forward with encouraging growth and renovation.
Janet Smalley
Janet graduated from Clemson and Winthrop University where she has served as a Trustee for 16 years. After serving as a teacher, school and district administrator, she established CompletEd Educational Services, working for both the state and federal departments of education as well as school districts throughout the US. Service on many nonprofit boards has included the United Way of Oconee, Friends of the Library, Lunney Museum, OCT, WPAC, the Clemson University Brooks Center, and WP2 of which she is a founding member. Projects on behalf of the city include writing the Timken grant that funded renovation of the Earle House and supervising its redesign and construction, fundraising for St John’s Meeting House and Main Street Public Restrooms, Main Street Heritage Quilts, Patriots Hall, and grant writing through GFWC-SC’s Progress Foundation for city entrance signs, youth soccer at city park, and Depot repainting.
Dave Eldridge
Dave is Chairman of the Tri-County Entrepreneurial Development Corporation that partners with the Oconee Economic Alliance in providing services to small start up businesses. In this role Dave operates the Oconee Business Center at Brown Square in downtown Walhalla. It provides office and manufacturing space for our local start up businesses along with seasoned Business Mentors to help them succeed. As a member of the Walhalla Main Street Advisory Board he brings many years of experience in Economic Development for South Carolina as well as involvement with the SC Main Street programs. He served as Director of Economic Development for the state and received the Order of the Palmetto from Governor Richard Riley for his service to the state.
Annie Caggiano
Annie Caggiano was selected to lead the economic development efforts for Oconee County, South Carolina USA in November of 2019. As the President of the Oconee Economic Alliance, she is driven to strengthen Oconee’s economy and enhance its global competitiveness by promoting economic growth through business retention and expansion, focus on new business recruitment, developing industrial real estate product, marketing and implementing supporting workforce development efforts. Prior to her arrival to Oconee County, Annie served the State of South Carolina as a Project Manager in Global Business for the South Carolina Department of Commerce. Project Managers are the frontline sales team responsible for attracting and managing new capital investment and job creation projects in South Carolina. Annie worked with companies across all industries but with a focus on automotive manufacturing and corporate head quarters projects. She worked with both consultants and directly with companies, domestic and international, to streamline complex projects. Additionally, Annie has worked in several different roles across the economic development community of South Carolina. Now entering the 18th year of her career in economic development, Annie started in 2004 as the Director of Research for the Central SC Alliance. For eight years she worked hard representing local governments surrounding Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina. From there she went on to serve as Senior Project Manager for South Carolina’s public utility Santee Cooper and as the Assistant Director of Richland County, SC. Since she began her career in 2004, Annie has helped bring over $1.6 billion and 10,000 jobs to the state.
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Darryl Broome
Darryl and his wife, Karen, have lived in Oconee County since 1988. Darryl is Vice President/Business Development Officer for Blue Ridge Bank. Darryl has over 20 years experience in the banking/financial services industry. Before joining Blue Ridge Bank, he also served as District Director and Chief of Staff for former Congressman Gresham Barrett. He was also the State Director for the South Carolina Office on Aging. He is the current Chairman of the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Board of Directors for the Foothills Area YMCA, The Oconee County Sheriff’s Foundation, The South Carolina Alzheimer’s Association, and Shade Tree Ministries. In 2018, Darryl was recognized as the ‘Governmental Partner of the year’ by the South Carolina Association of Regional Councils for his work with the SC Councils of Government.
