Brangenberg to retire after 30-year career in downtown Tupelo

08.06.2021

Brangenberg Announces Retirement Plans

Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association Executive Director concludes 30-year career in October

TUPELO, Miss., August 5, 2021 – Debbie Brangenberg, the longest serving Main Street director in Mississippi, has announced plans to retire from her executive director position with the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association (DTMSA) on October 1 of this year. Brangenberg has directed Tupelo’s Main Street program since 1991, having been recruited by Jack Reed, Jr. and other Tupelo city leaders, to lead the city’s new Main Street program. 

“I am so grateful for the support of the Tupelo mayors and city administrations that I’ve been fortunate to serve with, and to Main Street’s sponsors, supporters and devoted volunteers,” said Brangenberg.  “Most importantly, I owe a great deal of gratitude and thanks to the DTMSA Board of Directors, my dedicated staff, and certainly, this wonderful career opportunity would not have been possible without the love and support of my family, especially my husband and soul mate Carl.” 

“Under Debbie Brangenberg’s 30-years of Main Street leadership, downtown Tupelo has accomplished so much,” said Todd Jordan, Mayor of Tupelo. “Due in large part to the Main Street team’s efforts in promoting, preserving, revitalizing and enhancing our downtown area, Tupelo is positioned for even more economic growth and prosperity in the years ahead.”

Under Brangenberg’s leadership, Tupelo has received state and national recognition for the city’s sustained, incremental approach to community revitalization and for building a lively downtown with a thriving small business environment and inclusive community events. Tupelo won the 2020 Great America Main Street Award, one of three in the nation selected by a national jury of community development professionals and leaders in the fields of economic development and historic preservation. Referred to as the “GAMSA,” it is the nation’s top award for comprehensive preservation-based downtown revitalization.                                                                                                       

In addition to her Main Street responsibilities, Brangenberg also serves as the Tupelo Redevelopment Agency Project Coordinator and is responsible for the Urban Renewal bond program for the redevelopment of the Fairpark District, the former fairgrounds area in downtown Tupelo.

 “During my tenure, it was my privilege to work with Debbie and to experience first-hand not only her dedicated work ethic, but more than anything, to see the love and devotion she has for our city,” said Jason Shelton, former Mayor of Tupelo. “Among her many contributions, Debbie spearheaded the city’s Master Development Plan and oversight of the Downtown Overlay Zone Ordinance, as well as business assistance and recruitment in the downtown area.”

“While our downtown has not only benefitted from an economic development and quality of life standpoint, Debbie and her team have helped shine the light on Tupelo throughout the state and across the nation,” Shelton added.

The vision and long-range plan for downtown Tupelo was born through DTMSA in 1991 and became a reality when the City of Tupelo issued $22.68 million in Urban Renewal Bonds to fund the redevelopment of the former fairgrounds and surrounding area.  In the past 16 years, through efforts of the Tupelo Redevelopment Agency, DTMSA and CDF, public and private dollars invested in the downtown area totaled more than $214 million, not including approximately $24 million in additional private investment projected for on-going downtown projects. Over a 12-year period, through December 2020, city, county and Tupelo public school ad valorem taxes increased by approximately 44%, totaling more than $2.0 million.

“As the ‘Dean’ of Mississippi Main Street directors, Debbie Brangenberg has helped set the bar for what a Main Street organization can achieve,” said Thomas Gregory, state coordinator for the Mississippi Main Street Association. “She has earned the respect and admiration of her fellow Main Street state directors who recently honored her with the Heart of Main Street Award.”

“Debbie’s wisdom and knowledge will be missed in our Main Street family, but we will know where to find her – in her home and the place she loves the most – Downtown Tupelo,” Gregory said.

Brangenberg is a graduate of Itawamba High School in Fulton, Miss. and earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. She is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Southern Mississippi, the Community Development Foundation’s Jim Ingram Leadership Class and its Leadership Lee Class, and McLean Institute’s Regional Leadership program at the University of Mississippi.  

Brangenberg has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions through the years, including the Mississippi Main Street Association’s Charles Beasley Outstanding Main Street Director Award in 2010 and the Heart of Main Street Award in 2021. She has been recognized by the Mississippi Business Journal’s “Top 50 Business Women”, and has been named a “Woman of Distinction” by the Tupelo Area Business and Professional Women. Brangenberg said that her greatest sense of accomplishment has been earning Tupelo’s 2020 GAMSA recognition by Main Street America. (Next)

Brangenberg also has a lengthy list of civic and community service involvements, including past and present memberships on local non-profit boards, mayoral task forces, advisory councils, planning committees, HOAs, and other similar endeavors. 

Her volunteer support and involvement cover a range of activities related to the Tupelo Public School District, Community Development Foundation, Tupelo Community Theatre, Tupelo Furniture Market, Lee-Itawamba Library System, The Link Center, the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area, Park Hill Neighborhood, Cultural Alliance of Tupelo/Lee County, Tupelo Clean and Beautiful, and the Mississippi Main Street Association. 

In recent years, Brangenberg’s personal passion has been her affiliation with the C.O.P.S. (Concerns of Police Survivors) organization in tribute to her son, Sgt Gale Stauffer, who lost his life in the line of duty in 2013 serving as a Tupelo police officer. Brangenberg is a member of Tupelo’s First United Methodist Church where she has served in various committee roles, including Chair of Long-Range Planning, and is also a member of the chancel choir and sanctuary handbell choir. She also served as an early advisor to the church’s COVID response team. 

With Brangenberg’s retirement in October of this year, the DTMSA Board of Director’s Executive Committee is conducting a search process for the executive director position. 

ABOUT DOWNTOWN TUPELO MAIN STREET ASSOCIATION                                                       

Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association (DTMSA) is a 501 (c) (4) Mississippi non-profit civic organization with a commitment to sustaining and enhancing the Tupelo Downtown experience through preservation-based economic development and community revitalization.  DTMSA is a member of the Mississippi Main Street Association (MMSA), a program of the National Main Street Center and Mississippi Development Authority, providing program assistance to Tupelo and more than 50 Main Street communities and network members in Mississippi based on the Main Street Approach® - Organization, Promotion, Design and Economic Vitality.