Rob Buddo recently became the head of Downtown Huntsville after a stint working in a similar organization, REV Birmingham.

Buddo said that making connections between adjacent districts is important, and “DHI is going to probably spend a lot of it’s 2024 doing some strategic planning as to how can it better support some of those downtown districts that are adjacent to the core.”

Buddo said that Downtown Huntsville needs to hear from people in the community. “I hope that people know that they can contact us and we want to make a downtown that they’re proud of, and work through them. … Probably the biggest thing that I would say people don’t necessarily know about us is that we would we really value that feedback.”

Read on for some of the details he shared with the Lede. Interview has been condensed for content and clarity.

So how did you come to your role with Downtown Huntsville?

In my career, I’ve always been involved in place management, or commercial real estate. My most recent job, I was working for REV Birmingham in downtown Birmingham, kind of managing the business improvement district and got really plugged in with International Downtown Association and was fortunate enough to be chosen – they’re selected to go through this emerging Leadership Fellows Program in 2020… I was kind of in a leadership role, but not leading an organization at that time. But really got to understand what it takes to lead an organization like DHI – how to manage your board of directors, how to fundraise, how to strategic plan, you name it. So, upon completing that fellowship, stayed really kind of plugged in with IDA.