Familiar face in as county’s new Expo Center director

The Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center has a successor to longtime director Ray Jordan, and she’s no stranger to the community, or to the Expo Center itself.

Kaitlin Adkins has been selected as the new Expo director, the county announced on Thursday. Adkins, who has been working as the center’s event services manager since the end of 2022, will officially assume the Expo Center helm on July 1.

“I am very excited for this opportunity,” Adkins said. “I have been working as the event services manager at the Expo Center for a year and a half and have gained a lot of experience from working with Ray. He has been a really great mentor to me, which is why I feel prepared to step into this position.”

County Manager Ed Causey said the feeling is one felt all around.

“We are looking forward to working with her in this new position,” he stated.

A NC State University graduate, Adkins received her Bachelor of Science degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. Prior to becoming the event services manager for the Expo Center in December 2022, Adkins was the communications coordinator/downtown director for the City of Dunn for three years, from October 2019 to December 2022.

This is not the first stint for Adkins at Sampson’s centrally-located events hub, as Adkins actually worked from an office within the Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center from January 2016 to July 2018, as the executive director of the Clinton-Sampson Chamber of Commerce. She took that experience to Dunn and then returned home over the past year and a half, where she now expands her role.

“I look forward to learning and adjusting to my new role over the next several months,” Adkins said. “It is exciting to be back working in my home community and being apart of the continuing effort to make Sampson County an even better place to live, work and play.”

As Expo Center director, Adkins will oversee day-to-day functions, to include budgeting, event planning, maintaining social media content, email marketing, facility maintenance, vendor negotiations, contract management, financial record-keeping, fundraising and inventory management, according to the county. The job also entails supervising full and part-time staff, training, assisting with special projects, establishing relationships and maintaining partnerships.

Adkins will be taking over a job that was held for decades by Jordan, who was named Sampson County’s full-time Economic Development Commission director in February. He has served a dual role since that time as full-time EDC director and interim Expo director.

Upon the departure of Stephen Barrington in September 2023, it was announced that Jordan would serve in a dual role for the county, both as interim director for the Economic Development Commission and as director of the Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center. Those titles for Jordan flipped in February and he will be officially relieved of the Expo Center affiliation in the coming weeks, as Adkins steps in.

Adkins’ starting salary is $71,520.