Downtown Spokane Partnership, the nonprofit membership organization advocating downtown initiatives, has completed a national search to find candidates for its president position.

DSP board chairman Mark Aden says the board expects to begin interviews in August.

In mid-June, the organization announced the departure of Marty Dickinson, who had been president since 2005. She left that position July 1 to become corporate marketing communications executive, senior vice president, at Sterling Savings Bank.

DSP Vice President Marla Nunberg has served as interim president since Dickinson's departure and has applied to fill the top post permanently.

Aden says a six-member search committee is reviewing applicants' qualifications from a pool of about 20 candidates. The committee includes members of the DSP board and one representative each from the University District board and the downtown Business Improvement District.

"Right now we are in the middle of doing some basic background search and selecting the best candidates," Aden says. "Our goal is to have someone in place by the end of October."