New director declared to move I.F. Event Center forward

IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Falls Auditorium District’s board has named its chairwoman as the new executive director.

Cindy Ozaki was voted in after the board searched for candidates through a mandatory hiring process earlier this year. The announcement was made Thursday.

“Now I can devote a lot more time to it in terms of the daily operations and moving things forward at a faster pace, working more in fundraising and financial endeavors,” Ozaki said.

Ozaki will resign from her position as chairwoman at the end of March. She will begin her duties as the executive director April 1. She has served as the chairwoman since the district was established six years ago. The board has been without an executive director since the summer of 2016.

“I’m really excited about this. We are getting closer all the time to putting all of the different moving parts of this together so that we can have fruition and actually begin construction on the event center,” Ozaki said.

Besides a new executive director, there are also going to be changes on the board. Four out of five positions are open for election on the auditorium district’s board. None of the board members currently holding those positions are running again. Five applicants have filed for the four positions.

Ozaki’s resume includes some 30 years of experience with small business management and interior design and procurement at the Idaho National Laboratory. She was also as a cost analyst for National Industries for the Severely Handicapped and executive director of United Way. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Oregon State University.

Now that her role is changed she saud she will be able to speed up the decision making process on the event center. Ozaki said there are thousands of decisions that need to be made while taking on a project of this magnitude. The building’s estimated cost is more than $40 million, a little over the $35 million projected in 2015.

“It’s going to create a lot of new jobs, and a lot of new businesses will come with the event center. It can’t happen fast enough for us,” Ozaki said.

The event center will be able to host large scale concerts and shows, rodeos, various sporting events and business expos.

Ozaki has no set any firm deadlines for the center, but reassures the community that it will be coming.

“It’s a complicated facility, and we are moving ahead with it. We want people to know it is going to come,” Ozaki said.

The public is welcome to comment on the Idaho Falls Event Center’s Facebook page, or on the auditorium districts website. Ozaki invites people to contact her or the auditorium district to comment, or participate in different committees the district will be offering.

The deadline to declare a write-in candidacy for positions on the board is April 1. Contact District Clerk Mark Fuller for more details on these positions at (208) 552-2135.