Nhan Nguyen, the Neighborhood Revitalization Program Manager with the White Center Community Development Association has left the agency after a 2 year run. During his time in White Center he brought about a lot of change and mobilized the business community in some significant ways. His reasons for leaving are "Personal and I'd rather not say," but he indicated he has some future opportunities that he plans to investigate and will be staying busy and will be living in Seattle.

He came to the WCCDA after completing a "studio class" in graduate school (he holds a Masters Degree in Urban Planning) that was conducted in White Center.

But his background also includes a successful stint as a banker with U.S. Bank, Bank of America, from 2001 to 2006 working in Auburn and the Rainier Valley. He became one of the "Top Ten Bankers" of Washington State, he said but did not find the work fulfilling. That's when he got his graduate degree with a focus on economic development. He spent some time as a teaching assistant in Vietnam then the WCCDA job came up.

His goal in approaching the job was to follow the "Main Street Model" for urban revitalization for White Center which is comprised of five key concepts.
1. Marketing and promotion
2. Retail development
3. Clean and Safety
4. Pedestrian Environment
5. Capacity Building

The work he's done here has brought him a lot of "personal satisfaction that I have done my job well" and he's happy that, "People who were skeptical of me in the beginning (…) those people right now are my friends and my allies." Nguyen said that White Center Chamber President Mark Ufkes called him, "fearless," but he confessed that at first he was, "nervous as hell, talking to all these seasoned business owners who know a lot more than me. But how I do it is to come from a very humble attitude. That's why they wanted to work with me."

He's very proud of the communication that's been fostered through the series of Business District Mixers he's sponsored and noted the increasing attendance and the fact that these meetings result in real world effects. "The first meeting was January 2010 and we had 20 people show up. Ever since then we consistently break the record of attendance, now more than 30 attend every meeting." He points to the fact that these meetings provide free resources to business owners that can help them with relevant and meaningful matters.

At an impromptu meeting at the Company Bar held by his co-workers on Aug. 25 some tears were shed, and emotional goodbyes were said. Nguyen said he is definitely experiencing some separation anxiety. Before he left he went around to those people he felt were "the stakeholders in the community" and shook their hand as a farewell gesture.

Though no immediate successor has yet been found, "I leave everything in a good place," he said and noted business owners who have stepped up to take part in some of the efforts that he and WCCDA have been helping promote.

Many people claim that White Center never seems to change. Nguyen disagrees and offered his prediction for White Center's future.

"It won't be unincorporated five years from now. I definitely don't think so, just from the sources I have talked to." Once the area is annexed, "The infrastructure will be improved because whoever annexes it will have to bring it up to code. You will see the street and sidewalk will be different, traffic will be different and we will definitely have more law enforcement here. I see that the power of the people will get together. A lot of things are going on here."