Commercial News—Meet the new boss
BY CAROL ROEHM croehm@dancomnews.com
DANVILLE – Lucas Seilhymer has been named as Project Success’ new chief executive officer, succeeding Rickey Williams, Jr., who is now Danville’s mayor.
The board of directors of Project Success of Vermilion County, Inc. made the announcement Friday morning.
Seilhymer, 28, has been with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) of Vermilion and Edgar Counties since 2014 and is CASA’s executive director. He will start at Project Success on June 10.
Project Success Board Chairman Keven Forney pointed to Seilhymer’s expertise in grant writing and grant management and his ability to grow the number of CASA’s volunteer advocates and expand the Vermilion County-based program into Edgar County as reasons why he was a good fit for Project Success.
“It mirrors what we do here closely,” Forney said.
Williams had been Project Success’ CEO for five years. During his tenure with Project Success, he procured multiyear funding and developed dozens of youth programs throughout Vermilion County.
Forney said 10 applied for the Project Success post, with the board interviewing four of them.
“It was a difficult decision,” he added.
Seilhymer said he was excited to join Project Success and continue to grow his career serving children.
“Project Success has a wonderful reputation under Mayor Williams’ guidance, and I am looking forward to filling his shoes,” Seilhymer said.
As CEO, Seilhymer will oversee a total of 120 employees: 13 full-time and the rest part-time; an annual budget of about $1.8 million; and 15 program sites throughout the county.
Project Success of Vermilion County relies on four grants to fund its two academic support and enrichment programs — 21st Century Learning Centers and Teen Reach — which together serve 1,000 children in Vermilion County.
Williams secured large grants in 2014 and again last year that allowed him to fund extensive expansions of the 21st Century Learning Centers after school program into every school district in the county, except Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin, Armstrong and Potomac. The Teen Reach program, which has been offered locally for 20 years, is funded through an annual grant.
Williams said Friday that the program at South View Upper Elementary School in Danville and at middle schools and high schools around the county have a before-school element as well as the after school component.
Project Success also receives funding to provide snacks at the program sites and for its summer food program.
Seilhymer is a Georgetown native who graduated Schlarman High School in 2009. He earned a bachelor’s degree in financial planning from the University of Illinois.
After completing a stint with AmeriCorps in Key West, Fla., Seilhymer returned to Vermilion County.
“I knew there was a great need in the juvenile justice system,” he said of his work with CASA.
He and his fiancée, Lindsay Van Fleet, who is a civil attorney and chief deputy of the civil division at the Vermilion County Courthouse, have a 1-year-old son, Charlie.