Virgil Christian

admits to being a little scared about becoming the first-ever executive

director for the Peachtree City Development Authority.

But he already

knows practically half the job inside-out anyway: running the city's tennis

center. But as executive director of the authority, Christian will also

be responsible for the city's amphitheater, and the key to its future

is letting the employees there be successful and take certain risks when

necessary. Trust your employees' instincts, in other words, and it can

lead to professional satisfaction along with success for the business,

he said.

Christian has

applied that concept to his management of the tennis center, and it has

been a huge success, drawing praise from the tennis world far and wide

as one of the best publicly-owned tennis facilities in the country.

But Christian

admits that former Amphitheater Director Kristi Rapson "and the Beach

Boys" are going to be hard acts for him to follow, alluding to the

pressure of finding quality acts for the amphitheater's summer concert

series.

"But she's

got a good team there," Christian adds, including Donna Romeo, who

will likely become the amphitheater's top on-site administrator. "We're

going to work hard because the expectations are very high. As a team I

hope we make it the finest amphitheater around."

In his new

role, Christian will also be charged with economic development, and he

plans to use his athletic connections to draw athletic companies to at

least visit Peachtree City by having their company meetings and executive

training here.

That's a good

way to sell the city, he noted by bringing corporate America to the city's

doorstep so they can marvel at the city's many amenities, chiefly the

tennis center, amphitheater and its extensive cart path system.

Although Christian

admits he doesn't know much about traditional economic development, he

believes his approach with athletic companies will have a benefit.

Christian also

wants to use synergy with the tennis center and amphitheater to help attract

larger corporate events to Peachtree City by helping coordinate the use

of both facilities for those private events.

"Corporate

entertainment is big and we definitely need to do more of that,"

Christian said.

He also plans

to get direction from the experienced members of the authority who have

been working in economic development for years.

Christian is

not worried about the tennis center's operations; he has already turned

over full day-to-day operations to other employees including head professional

Sean Ferreira, who is likely to become the next tennis center director.

Part of that

has been because of the building project that will bring covered courts

and a new administrative building to the tennis center, Christian said.

The project was cut in cost from its original $3.1 million price tag to

just over $2.5 million, and it's taking some work to keep the project's

budget from cost overruns.

But Christian

committed that the project will be done without significant compromises

in quality; he commended the efforts of the contractors and sub-contractors

on the project to help keep costs down.