Frank Pinson has been named chief executive officer at Floyd County College and Career Academy, which is slated to open next fall.

Pinson, principal at Pepperell Middle School for the past 10 years, will be in charge of continuing and developing additional partnerships set up between Floyd County Schools, Coosa Valley Technical College and the area’s business community, and helping to develop the curriculum and get the operations of the school up and running.

“I am so excited about this career academy because it will open doors for a lot of students,” said Pinson, who has been involved in the charter school since the project began about a year ago. “It will help develop their aptitude and interests to the fullest potential. It has tremendous potential to attract future business in our community.”

Pinson said he hopes to tie the school to Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Workforce Ready Initiative that helps communities guarantee trained workers for industry.

He said he also plans to develop additional programs. He calls himself not chief executive but coordinator of educational opportunities.

“I’m very, very excited. This is a passion of mine, and it will definitely improve the graduation rate,” said Pinson, noting a charter school in South Carolina reported a graduation rate of 98 percent.

Pinson has been with the county school system for almost 27 years and is a Rome native.

He said his local ties may have helped him gain the position because he feels he understands the needs of the community and the students.

Lynn Plunkett, interim superintendent of Floyd County Schools, said a committee of 11 interviewed several candidates.

Pinson’s experience in the private sector and as an educator and his leadership skills made him the perfect candidate, she said.

“We all agreed he had a vision for the school and what it could do for the school system and community, but also about what it would do for the students,” Plunkett said.

Plunkett said Pinson will take the position in mid-January pending hiring a new principal for Pepperell Middle. She said the job has been posted, and they hope to have someone soon.

The charter school expects approval in January by the state Board of Education. It just received a $3.2 million grant from the state to add a 16,000-square-foot robotic manufacturing lab to the current technical high school site. That facility is expected to open in 2009.