Chamber fills board with six new members

The Pittsburg-Camp County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors approved six new board members Jan. 8, and for the time in recent memory, the chamber has a full board of 20 members.

They are Josie Henderson of AEP/SWEPCO, Lance Lacefield of Pilgrim’s, Sabin Warrick of Sausage Warehouse, Brandon Langford of UT Health Pittsburg, Carolyn Franks of the NTCC Whatley Center and Sandy Thompson.

“We are really excited. We had six open seats on the board, and we had more applicants than we had open positions,” said Chamber Executive Director Christine Jackson. “We had to make some tough decisions, but we are very pleased with the outcome.”

The Chamber membership will vote to install them and the returning board members at the organization’s annual banquet and meeting Jan. 31.

The 2019 officers remain the same. They are James Wallace, president, of Wallace Law Firm, Golden Murphy, vice president, of Murphy’s Kitchen, and Kim Daily, treasurer.

Other returning board members are: Josh Cato, Cypress Bank,: Matt Wallace, Southern Wind Manor Assisted Living; Marci Parker, Guaranty Bank & Trust; Holly McGraw, On Top Dezignz; Kristin Aldridge, Anvil Brewing; Vivian Kelly, Douglass Alumni Association; Alethea Smerdon, God’s Closet; Terry Colvin, Colvin and Associates; Bryan Friesth, East Texas Broadcasting; Ronda Burns, Pilgrim Bank; and Tammy Heckenberg, Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Jackson, who started as executive director in April 2018, said the past year had been one of rapid growth for the organization, which added 45 new members, compared to 11 the previous year.

“People are beginning to see that we are active in the community and trying to make a difference in economic development and building the businesses here,” Jackson said.

Board President James Wallace said in years past, the Chamber has had to “beg and borrow people to be on the board” but this year is vastly different.

“People are eager to come on the board, and that’s exciting,” Wallace said. “That tells me that our whole purpose of getting the business community excited about promoting our community and tourism is happening. It tells me we are doing something right. We stretched the footprint of the chamber in 2018, and I think our businesses are beginning to see that and want to be a part of it.”

Wallace said the chamber’s vision for 2019 is to continue to push for tourism by promoting meaningful events.

“We want to have more people coming into our community and introduce them to all the benefits we have to offer,” he said.