BATH — Main Street Bath has hired Amanda Stanley of Topsham as its next executive director, a position she officially started on Monday.

“She’s just been an incredibly enthusiastic good sport about getting underway and jumping in with both feet,” said Gretchen Jaeger, president of Main Street Bath’s board. “She’s got marketing expertise and management expertise, and she is just really enthusiastic and really in love with Bath. I think she is going to be a wonderful new energy (for Main Street Bath).”

Before joining Main Street Bath — the local chapter of a national network that seeks to revitalize downtowns and promote economic development — Stanley spent the past four years as a program coordinator with Goodwill of Northern New England. Prior, she worked for Portland Magazine.

“What’s wonderful is that I can kind of speak to a wide variety of businesses and relate to where they’re coming from and understand the diverse challenges that we have here in this state,” said Stanley, who is originally from Damariscotta.

One of the big challenges Stanley sees in her role is to ensure that Bath is a destination, not just something that flashes by drivers as they pass over the viaduct.

“Bath has always been something to be discovered. You’re always driving and you never know what’s in it. It’s something that needs to be fixed, and I want to be a part of that,” she said. “I want people to stop by on their way. I want them to take the time to see what Bath has for them, because it isn’t just one place — it’s going to be something different for everybody.”

Stanley takes over from interim Executive Director Mari Eosco, the Bath City Council chairwoman who has held the position since previous Executive Director Jake Corb stepped down in September of 2017.

Main Street Bath has been going through a transition period since Corb stepped down. The organization used that moment to reevaluate itself. In 2018, the group conducted a visioning process to understand the future needs of Bath and the role Main Street Bath could play.

Main Street Bath opted to forgo hiring a new executive director until it had completed that process and it could inform their hiring decisions. Eosco was brought on to serve as the interim executive director, a role she has filled previously at Main Street Bath.

“She’s been miraculous for us over the course of the past year,” said Jaeger. “And she’s going to still be involved, so she’ll be a great resource for Amanda as well.”

This summer, Main Street Bath released a report from the meetings and conversations it had during the visioning process as well as a vision statement about how they see Bath moving forward.

“It’s been a really transitional year for Main Street Bath, and I think Bath is in transition as a community, so it’s been sort of a great opportunity to think about how Main Street should evolve to meet those needs and be a steward and voice in shaping Bath’s future,” said Jaeger.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

CORRECTION: This story was updated to reflect Gretchen Jaeger’s current position as president of the Main Street Bath board. She was vice-presidnet of the board last year.