Egidio named Chamber of Commerce’s interim leader
After two weeks at the helm, Debbie Egidio — the interim president and CEO of the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce — assured that she has been very busy.
“It’s only been two weeks, and I’m spending my time just really getting up to speed on the activities the Chamber’s been doing in the last two months and plan for our normal programs going forward,” she said. “A lot of those have been on hiatus because
of our health directive restrictions.”
Egidio was tapped to serve as the interim leader of the Chamber, an agency that serves the interests of local businesses, following the departure of Becky Craig after six years to serve as the assistant county executive officer of Napa County. Egidio already has experience with the Chamber, having served on its Board of Directors from 2010 to 2017 and having a stint as chairwoman from 2015 to 2016.
She also has an extensive career in marketing, dating back nearly three decades. From 1993 to 1998, she worked in the marketing department at Marine World Africa USA in Vallejo, which is now Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. She then worked as marketing director at the Vallejo Convention and Visitors Bureau — now Visit Vallejo — from 1998 to 2003 and heavily promoted Vallejo as a tourism destination.
In 2003, Egidio went to work for Triad Communities, which was working on the Hiddenbrooke planned community in Vallejo, as well as remodeling the Empress Theatre and other downtown buildings, at the time. Concurrently, Triad was also working on a mixed-use development at Lagoon Valley Park, which Egidio said introduced her to Vacaville after she became involved in the project, even establishing an office in the city.
“At the time, my husband and I were living in Vallejo but we fell in love with Vacaville through that process and moved here in 2006,” she said.
The previous year, Egidio and her husband Tom started their own marketing and public relations business called DTS Egidio, which stands for Debbie, Tom and Sammy — the couple’s dog at the time.
“We do traditional projects in the marketing and PR field, as well as working on entitlement work for development projects,” she said. “Our business is very client-based.”
Through working in Vacaville, Egidio said she became involved with the Chamber, which resulted in a seven-year stint on the board.
“That background gave me a lot of experience with the Chamber, understanding its goals and its programs and being very ingrained into our life and how we got to know our community and the business and the people here,” she said.
Following Craig’s exit, Egidio said she was contacted by Ed Rapisarda, the board’s chairman-elect, and asked if she was able to step into the role of president and CEO for the time being.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “It’s a big honor that I would be entrusted with the leadership of the Chamber at this time.”
Egidio said it was “a very critical time for all of the business community,” especially as businesses have experienced losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“(This is) kind of a turning point as we move into getting back into normal operations for our businesses and for our citizens,” she said. “To be here at this point in time is gonna be very special for me.”
Currently, Egidio said she is meeting with committees and listening to Chamber members. She wants to continue the programs in place and work with the board as they begin figuring out how to return to regular events such as mixers and ribbon cuttings.
“We’re already seeing some interest from our business community and to get to back into those in-person-type events,” she said, “but that’s something that we’re gonna make sure we follow all of the directives that are out there and help push it along as fast as we can but still do it as the guidelines tell us to.”
Egidio said she likes being able to meet a wide variety of people and getting an understanding of “how our community ticks” from the perspectives of both businesses and individuals. She also likes that the Chamber serves as a voice for businesses.
“One of the things the Chamber gets very involved in is our business advocacy, making sure that we’re helping support those issues that can support our businesses,” she said.
A primary goal for Egidio is to help the Chamber find a permanent CEO, but she is happy to provide leadership until that happens.
“I’m just trying to jump in as fast as I can so that our transition is as seamless as possible and move the Chamber forward into the future,” she said.