On Aug. 9, Grow Odessa held their annual stockholders meeting where outgoing President Eddy Shelton stepped down, passing the gavel to incoming President Gus Ortega. Shelton served a one-year term as President beginning in August 2021 and ending at the board meeting in August 2022. Ortega will assume the position of president and will serve a one-year term on the 27 person board.
Odessa Industrial Development Corporation, DBA Grow Odessa, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to Odessa’s economic development growth. Grow Odessa was established in 1966 to assist existing businesses with expansions and to attract new compatible industries to Odessa. The organization has developed four industrial parks in south Odessa and has more 500 additional acres of undeveloped land for future use. Grow Odessa provides an annual scholarship donation to Odessa College, UT Permian Basin and Texas Tech UHSC. They have also partnered with the City of Odessa and Ector County on several infrastructure projects throughout the community, as well as making contributions towards the construction of the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, UTPB Athletics and the West Texas Food Bank to name a few.
Ortega currently serves as the West Region Manager of Customer Service for Oncor Electric Delivery. His territory includes Odessa and Midland. Ortega has worked with Oncor for 24 years holding various positions during his time with the organization. In his current position, he has direct responsibility as a liaison with elected officials at all local levels of government as well as coordinating solutions for escalated issues related to both Oncor transmission and distribution matters through this portion of West Texas which includes 56 cities in 37 counties encompassing approximately 325,000 customers. Having grown up in Bandera, Texas, Gus moved to the Permian Basin in 2010 to begin a new position with Oncor. Ortega has been very involved in Odessa serving many organizations. Ortega got involved with Grow Odessa because of the organizations long, successful history of working to grow the community. He believes that Grow Odessa can continue to have a positive impact on the growth and economic development in Odessa. He hopes the organization will make significant strides during his time as President to develop 500 acres on the south side of Odessa that the organization owns. He would also like to see Grow Odessa purchase more land locally which would enable them to attract more jobs and business here.
Ortega and his wife Kim have raised 2 children here in Odessa. He enjoys spending time with his family, golfing, cooking and serving in his church.
Shelton and his wife Teresa have lived in Odessa their entire lives and have raised both their daughters here in the community. Shelton started Apple Electrical Contractors in 1994. He became involved with Grow Odessa when Apple purchased Dennard Electric in 2014. Dennard was already a Grow Odessa stockholder and Shelton chose to get involved with the organization because he knew most of the board members. The pride and concern for growing the Odessa area is what really drew him in. Shelton served as a football referee for a number of years beginning with high school in the West Texas area eventually retiring as a Big 12 Referee in 2019.
There are a number of items during this past year Shelton is proud of helping lead Grow Odessa’s participation in. These include: committing $25,000 each in scholarships to Odessa College, UT Permian Basin and Texas Tech UHSC, transferring Grow Odessa property to Nacero, selling multiple properties to various companies helping them grow their footprint in Odessa, committing funds to ECISD bond advertising, reserving funds for development of the South Industrial Park, contributing to the expansion of the Ellen Noël Art Museum and contributing to the development of the Odessa College Wood Science Center.
Grow Odessa membership is available to anyone who is interested in helping the community grow. Shares are $100 each for a minimum buy in of 10 shares ($1,000).
For more information on how you can become a member of Grow Odessa, contact Tracy Jones at 432-333-7886 or email [email protected].
