Bowling Green’s Mike Simpson (right), shown on stage at Owensboro’s ROMP Festival with 2012 Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductee Doyle Lawson, has been elected chairman of the International Bluegrass Music Association board of directors.

Mike Simpson may have landed his dream job, and it has nothing to do with the real estate development and management that have paid the bills for more than two decades.

As president of Chandler Property Management, Simpson has orchestrated high-profile real estate deals and still has his hand in projects from The Hub on Lovers Lane to the resurrection of the Park Mammoth golf course in Edmonson County.

Such projects have made Simpson a major player in the local business community, even earning him the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year award in 2012. But, for Simpson, they often take a back seat to his true love: bluegrass music.

Now Simpson, who while growing up in Ohio and Hancock counties was steeped in the culture of banjos and fiddles long before entering the business world, has been elected chairman of the board of directors for the Nashville-based International Bluegrass Music Association.

For someone who would probably rank “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe higher than Warren Buffett on his list of heroes, it’s a perfect fit.

“I’ve been around this music my entire life,” Simpson said. “I grew up in a rural area where you got together and played bluegrass music. This music is in my veins.”

Although better known for partnering with Bowling Green developer David Chandler on apartment and hotel projects, Simpson’s involvement in bluegrass music organizations is nearly as extensive as his list of real estate developments.

A past chairman of Owensboro’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Simpson has been a member of the IBMA board for five years and served as treasurer of the 2,500-member organization for a year before being elected chairman in June.

The IBMA is made up primarily of musicians, composers and others involved in the music industry, and Simpson said he is the first chairman who isn’t a music professional.

“What I think I’ve been able to do is bring a business perspective to the organization,” said Simpson, who grew up near Monroe’s hometown of Rosine in Ohio County. “I can help out with financial challenges and in preparing budgets.”

That input is valuable, said Ben Surratt, a recording studio engineer who served as the IBMA board chairman before Simpson.

“He was elected treasurer the previous year, which he was very well-suited for,” Surratt said. “His financial expertise has helped, and he has extensive experience working with foundations and nonprofits.

“Mike was already a known quantity who had all the skills that were needed. He was a natural choice (for chairman).”

Chandler, Simpson’s long-time business partner, agrees that the IBMA chairmanship is a good fit for the businessman who doesn’t hide his love for the type of acoustic string music that Monroe and others made popular in the 1940s.

“About 15 years ago, Mike and I and two other friends took a random trip to China,” Chandler said. “He (Simpson) was listening to bluegrass music on the Great Wall of China. That’s probably a first.”

Simpson, who himself dabbles in mandolin picking and has family members who regularly play and perform bluegrass music, may not envision “Blue Moon of Kentucky” being played in Beijing, but he has big plans for the IBMA and its related organizations.

“The IBMA, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and the IBMA Foundation are the three primary institutions in the bluegrass industry,” said Simpson, who was elected chairman for one year but can serve for up to three years if reelected. “I want to raise the profile of all three organizations.”

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.