Anthony Cadle, a Dayton, Kentucky, native who helped create more than 3,700 jobs in Cincinnati, will now shape economic strategy for Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties as the new vice president of strategy at BE NKY Growth Partnership.

The regional economic development organization announced the hire Aug. 10. Cadle's top assignment: building the nextNKY Economic Plan, a five-to-10-year blueprint that will set strategic goals and benchmarking metrics for the three-county region. That plan will guide growth decisions affecting employers and workers in communities including Florence, Hebron and Burlington.

He will also oversee BE NKY's Economy in Review, an annual report that evaluates regional strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.

Cadle comes from the City of Cincinnati Department of Community & Economic Development, where he served as division manager of economic development. In that role, he worked with REDI Cincinnati and Hamilton County to attract companies and retain employers. In earlier Cincinnati positions, he focused on affordable housing development and partnerships with developers and community organizations to expand housing options.

Before Cincinnati, his first job out of the University of Kentucky was Main Street manager in his hometown of Dayton, where he helped drive the small Campbell County city's Main Street revival.

"Boone, Kenton, and, certainly, Campbell County raised me," Cadle said in the announcement. "They shaped how I see community, possibility, and the work that matters."

The role had been vacant since 2025.

BE NKY president and CEO Lee Crume said Cadle's experience in business attraction and retention and his ability to bring public- and private-sector partners together will strengthen the organization's work across all three counties.

Cadle replaces Christine Russell, who held the VP of strategy position from 2019 to 2025. Russell became the first executive director of the Northern Kentucky Port Authority in 2022, initially juggling both roles before moving to the port authority full time. BE NKY activated the port authority that year as a real estate and development tool, part of its Build + Elevate Northern Kentucky investor campaign that raised $4.6 million from businesses and the three county governments.

Boone County's fiscal court is one of the three founding investors in BE NKY, which was created in 1987. No release date has been announced for the nextNKY Economic Plan.