Brenda Sheehy is outgoing director of the Museum Center at Five Points in Cleveland, Tenn. She is stepping down after five years in the position.CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Brenda Sheehy felt a calling for something new, even if she doesn't know what it is just yet.
So she's leaving her post as director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center. Located on the Cleveland State Community College campus, the center serves small businesses in Bradley, Meigs, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties.
"It was just an inner feeling that now was the right time," Sheehy said. "There's a calling for a new challenge.
"I've always prayed the same prayer, 'I don't care what I am doing, just show me the opportunity,'" she said. "Whatever I do it will be in the service, public area."
The new director is Dave Hudson, small business specialist at the center.
Sheehy, who says she's an entrepreneur at heart, doesn't know what that new challenge will be yet. In the meantime, she has two book projects to finish, she said.
During her five years as director, the Cleveland center rose to third in the state -- behind only Knoxville and Memphis -- in the amount of help given to small businesses.
The Tennessee Small Business Development Center gave more than $12 million in economic help for the region's small businesses this year, said Sheehy, who lives in Hixson.
MCH Corp., a computer software and development company in Monroe County, is Tennessee's small business of the year for 2010-11 and is one of the center's clients.
"We will still be seeing her around Cleveland," said Sharon Marr, director of MainStreet Cleveland. Sheehy is the current president of MainStreet Cleveland.
When the development center is combined with the Cleveland/Bradley Business Incubator and Cleveland State's Small Business Management program, local entrepreneurs have a triple level of resources, said Debra Miller, director of Cleveland State's small business management program. All three are on the same area of the school's campus.
"People come in and talk to the small business development folks who will work with them," Miller said. "Then they need to know more about how to run their small business. That's where the small business management program comes in."