A new friendly face is representing the Dublin Economic Development Corporation, as Penny Corona has been hired as new executive director.
A relatively recent newcomer to Dublin, Penny and her husband, Joseph, moved to Dublin last June purchasing a home with land outside of town on Farm-to-Market 847.
After retirement from 29 years in education, Penny and her husband began looking to downsize a bit and had always loved Dublin.
“We would come here and go shopping or go to events like St. Patrick’s Day,” she said. The couple previously resided in Gatesville.
“We weren’t really tied to that area after retirement,” she said.
The couple took a leap of faith after visiting several times and despite their house not being under contract, they began taking the steps to move to their new Irish home.
Corona knew it was the right step, led by God when they were picking up their keys to a storage unit in Dublin and their home in Gatesville was finally put under contract, that very same day.
“We really love small towns,” she said.
Corona began her career teaching vocational agriculture in 1989 for Roxton ISD in East Texas. After her dad was injured and needed assistance on their ranch, she moved to have a position in education with less travel and began teaching math and science at her alma mater Como-Pickton. She primarily taught 5th grade math, though she offered tutoring up through high school.
Coming from a family of educators, with her parents previously teaching at the same district that she was at, Penny became a junior high school principal and eventually a principal.
After the death of her parents, Penny knew she needed a change and moved to become Superintendent for Yantis ISD. She was also superintendent for Medina ISD in Bandera County, which is where she retired from in 2016. She really loved the area and wanted to stay nearby.
As new executive director for the EDC, Penny is looking forward to being part of a thriving business community and hopefully bringing in new businesses that the citizens want to see.
“I love all these shops in town,” she said. “Dublin is a nurturing type of atmosphere, both in its business community and the community itself.”
She said she would like to see more store fronts with businesses, but those that compliment the ones that are here, instead of being in competition with one another.
Corona said she also loves living in a place with such a rich history and feels that tourism can really be built on that.
“I look forward to bringing in more businesses to help with tourism,” she said.
One of the biggest hurdles that Corona sees currently for businesses is simply the interest rates.
“We have to help our businesses as much as possible,” she said.
From an EDC standpoint, Corona is excited to begin working on business grants that the organization already has in place.
Along with her husband, Corona enjoys spending time with her son, Jesse Armstrong, who is a welder and her mother-in-law, Joelean Eichinger who resides with the couple.