Atlanta Pride, who lost its executive director last week, announced on Monday that it’s appointing a longtime volunteer as interim events manager while they launch a search for a permanent replacement.

Buck Cooke (photo), who most recently served as co-chair of Pride’s entertainment committee, will take on the interim post, described by the non-profit as a “short-term project.”

“We are thrilled and excited to welcome Buck Cooke to the Atlanta Pride Committee staff as our Interim Event Manager,” Board Chair Glen Paul Freedman says in a prepared statement. “Buck brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our organization for operations and event planning from his work experiences at Georgia Tech and Emory University.”

Pride did not provide additional details about the length of Cooke’s appointment, his salary or the search for an executive director. Cooke is an occasional contributor to Project Q Atlanta.

On Wednesday, James Parker Sheffield, a Pride employee for nearly 12 years and its executive director since 2009, quit to fill a newly-created position of organizational development director at the Health Initiative.