BY LEON B. CREWS
Sentinel Staff Writer

According to board members of the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa, Incorporated (CDC), they will continue their national search for an individual to serve as the organization’s president.

Ernest Coney, who served as the CDC’s C.O.O. under former CEO Toni Watts, has been interim president since her departure.

CDC Board Chair, Heddie Sumpter said the process is proceeding, and they expect to end their search within the next month or so. She also said Coney is being considered along with others.

“We’re entering another level of the search process, and I have no comment on why the process was initiated or how many candidates are being considered at this time.”

Wence Cunningham, who heads the Finance Committee for the board and also is chair of the search committee, said they did an initial search, and were disappointed with the results.

“We didn’t get much back from our initial search, and we plan to spend another month searching for viable candidates. As a board, we decided to do the search on a wider basis than had been done in the past.”

Cunningham said they want to make sure the CDC is stable in these tough economic times.

“First, I think the incumbent (Coney) is excellent, but we wanted to make sure we had someone in place with great fundraising abilities. We just felt, without any discredit to Ernest, we’d at least look at others for the position. We all think Ernest is doing a super job and is a great person.”

Ernest Coney is the son of the organization’s founder, Chloe Coney.

Formerly the Lee Davis Neighborhood Development Corporation, in 1992 the organization was incorporated for the purpose of alleviating poverty and physical deterioration in Hillsborough County’s East Tampa community.

Mrs. Coney served as the CEO from 1992 until 2006 before the board approved that Toni Watts, then the organization’s C.O.O., would assume the CEO position. Ms. Watts served as CEO from 2006 until 2010, and Ernest Coney has been serving as an interim since then.