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DAYTON — John P. "JP" Nauseef, president and chief executive officer of the Dayton Development Coalition, will leave the regional economic development organization this summer, the coalition announced on Wednesday, May 21.

The agency said that Nauseef, 42, will assist businesses with emerging technologies in capturing new markets, which was his line of work before joining the coalition. He will be succeeded by Jim Leftwich, 43, who joined the coalition in 2005 and is currently its chief operating officer.

The transition is to take place in August. Nauseef plans to remain in the Dayton area, the coalition said.

His annual compensation was $232,352 in 2006, the most recent year for which the nonprofit, tax-exempt coalition has filed a financial report with the Internal Revenue Service.

The change at the top is part of an organizational succession plan that Nauseef and the coalition board's executive committee developed two years ago, according to a statement the coalition issued. That plan included Leftwich's promotion last year to chief operating officer from his prior coalition job as vice president for aerospace, defense and technology.

Nauseef and Leftwich are both former Air Force officers. The coalition works closely with leadership of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the region's dominant employer and home to military research programs which provide business opportunities for defense contractors.

The coalition organizes annual spring trips to bring business and community leaders to Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional and government officials to advocate for the region's needs and hoped-for funding.

Task force groups organized by the coalition have been trying to help the Air Force persuade civilian employees of bases in other states to relocate to Wright-Patterson within the next few years. Military aerospace medicine and sensor research programs are to move to Wright-Patterson by 2011 under a base realignment and closure (BRAC) plan approved in 2005.

The coalition worked with the region's political and business leaders, prior to the 2005 decision, to lobby in behalf of Wright-Patterson during the discussions of which bases would be closed or lose manpower and programs to other installations. Wright-Patterson wound up a winner in the BRAC shifts. It will have a net gain of about 1,100 jobs when the current BRAC round of changes is completed in September 2011.

"The positive effects of these and other efforts will be felt in our community for many years to come," said Dennis Rediker, chief executive of Standard Register Co., who is the coalition's board chairman, in a prepared statement. "JP has provided exceptionally strong leadership to the coalition and the Dayton region."

Nauseef joined the coalition in 2002 and was promoted to his present jobs in 2005.

"It has been my honor and privilege to serve the region in this capacity, and I am very proud of what the Dayton Development Coalition has been able to accomplish, thanks to the support of our staff, board and community partners," Nauseef said in the coalition's statement.

The coalition is a public-private partnership of businesses and Miami Valley local governments.

Early this year, the Dayton Development Coalition launched a new, $1.5 million branding campaign to promote the Dayton region nationally. Coalition officials said the campaign, with a slogan of "Get Midwest ... We Think of Everything ... Dayton Region," is intended to help attract new employers and professionals to the Miami Valley to support science and technology development.

Some have praised that slogan, while marketing specialists not connected with the campaign questioned whether people elsewhere will comprehend it.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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