Frady Named CROET President and Chief Executive Officer
January 31, 2022
Teresa Frady has been named President and Chief Executive Officer for the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET), a regional economic development nonprofit focused on repurposing U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) legacy facilities and property for private sector development and job creation. Frady’s succession, which was announced during the January meeting of the CROET Board of Directors, replaces Lawrence Young who is retiring after serving more than 26 years as CROET’s esteemed President and CEO.
“I am so pleased that Teresa has accepted the challenge of leading CROET into its next phase,” said Young. “Teresa has been an integral part of the success of the organization, and I am confident that she, as my successor, will enhance upon the legacy established by the organization’s founders.”
Frady began her extensive career with CROET 22 years ago. She has risen through the ranks with increasing responsibility by serving in such roles as Account Manager, Accountant, Chief Accountant, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director.
Frady noted that she faces a huge challenge in continuing Mr. Young’s excellent stewardship but is excited about taking on this new role and is honored and grateful for the confidence the Board has placed in her.
“These are exciting times, with the majority of the cleanup at the former K-25 site having been completed by DOE’s contractor but there is still much work to be done to complete the redevelopment of Heritage Center,” said Frady. “I look forward to leading CROET into the next phase in the development of Heritage Center and building on the legacy that Lawrence and many others helped create.”
Since its inception in 1995, CROET has been successful in its mission to lease and sell property at the former K-25 site (now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park and Heritage Center) and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to private sector entities. Such transactions are a win-win for regional economic development, allowing businesses to expand their operations in proximity to the national laboratory while also providing new purpose for underutilized land and facilities that were previously owned and managed by DOE. In addition to creating high quality jobs for the area, reindustrialization efforts supported by CROET provides both additional tax revenue to the City of Oak Ridge and Roane County, as well as cost savings to the federal government which no longer needs to expend funds to maintain those assets.
Recently CROET has facilitated property transfers at Heritage Center to Kairos Power for the development of a fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature test reactor and to Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation for the development of a Pilot Fuel Manufacturing facility. These, along with other anticipated projects, serve as success stories for the reindustrialization process that began in the mid-1990s with Jim Hall, Robert Brown, Joe Lenhard, Pete Craven, Senator Ken Yager, Lawrence Young and many others.
For more information about CROET and Heritage Center, please visit www.heritagectr.com.