Effective January 16th, Cherie Bennett began serving as Director of DCA’s Office of Downtown Development. Cherie most recently managed the agency’s Rural Zone program, the Downtown Development Revolving Loan Fund, the Tourism Development Act program, and the Opportunity Zone program in the Office of State Economic Development, a position she has held since 2012. Prior to her service on that team, Cherie served as DCA’s representative to Region 6 for the Office of Regional Services, and as a community planner in the Office of Planning, Research, & Geoanalytics.
Prior to her arrival at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, she was a community planner and federal/state grants coordinator for the State’s Historic Preservation Division, and the Preservation Director for Historic Augusta, Inc. Her tenure as Manager of the DDRLF program resulted in $12.8 million of state-funded loans awarded for projects located in downtowns across Georgia, which ultimately leveraged an additional $66.2 million in private investment into Georgia’s downtowns and the creation of approximately 1400 jobs. In her role as the Manager of the Rural Zone program, Cherie administered the state of Georgia tax credit program that incentivized the creation of over 1000 jobs in designated rural downtowns across Georgia, over $21 million invested in the purchase of rural downtown properties, and over $15 million invested in the rehabilitation of rural downtown buildings.
Cherie holds a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University and Masters of Historic Preservation from the University of Georgia. Originally from Montezuma in Macon County, Cherie is a lifelong Georgian. She currently lives in Forsyth with her husband, son, cat and dog. Although Cherie was born into a Georgia Bulldog family, they are all reluctantly tolerating her daughter, who is currently a senior at Georgia Tech. Please join us in welcoming Cherie to this new role at DCA!
