Joe Sampson steps down as executive director of One Spark

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Colleen Michele Jones

One Spark Executive Director Joe Sampson discusses the changes coming to One Spark 2015.

Timothy Gibbons

Managing Editor- Jacksonville Business Journal

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Joe Sampson is stepping down as executive director of One Spark, an organization he's been part of since six weeks before the inaugural festival.

It was time to move on to other projects, Sampson said in an interview — and he wanted to leave before planning for the 2015 version of the event really heated up.

"The team has to focus and give it their undivided attention," he said. "If a leadership change is to occur, now is the time to do it."

The next festival will be held in April.

Sampson said he'll be doing freelance and contract work for the next several months while working on a bigger project — "something else in the event realm" — that should come to fruition in 2015.

"I've got a bit of an entrepreneurial spirt," he said. "I want to help launch something and growth them to a certain point. I'm at the point where I'm ready to move on to a new project or multiple projects."

Samson will leave the organization by the end of the year, and One Spark CEO and co-founder Elton Rivas will serve as interim director.

Meanwhile, major funder Peter Rummell said in a statement that One Spark will be looking for a new director.

"As businesses evolve and mature there are times when leaders of an organization come to a point when they may feel that they have done what they set out to do," Rummell said. "Joe did a tremendous job helping take us from the starting blocks to today."