Chamber names Pearson as new president
TROY — Norris Pearson has been named as the new president and CEO of the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce, the chamber board of directors announced.
Pearson comes to the chamber after serving as the longtime operations manager of the Houston Field House at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He spent 29 years at RPI. Pearson and his wife, Marguerite Pearson, the director of marketing and communications at the
Mohawk-hudson Humane Society in Menands, are longtime residents of Troy, having lived in the city for nearly 30 years.
“I have witnessed the Chamber’s evolution driven by the forward thinking of its excellent past leaders and dedicated board of directors. I am excited to get started and it will be my honor to build on their work and forge new paths toward ensuring the Chamber’s strong position as a vital resource for businesses, a driver of economic development, and an advocate for Rensselaer County as great place to live, work, and play,” Pearson said in a statement.
Pearson succeeds Kate Manley, who led the chamber for six years before opting to leave in 2022 to spend more time with her family.
“Norris brings decades of experience as a community connector with expertise in convening a diverse set of stakeholders to advance a common goal. We are pleased to have someone of his caliber leading our chamber into the future and know that his passion for our region and our business community, along with his high level of energy, positions our organization well for growing our membership and expanding programming,” Brian Williams, chamber board chair and chair of the search committee, said in a statement.
Pearson has been active with the chamber for many years and was a member of the inaugural class of the chamber
Leadership Institute in 2006. He is a member of the YMCA of Troy Advisory Council and a past recipient of the YMCA’S President’s Award. Pearson is a former member of the RPI Community Relations Committee and is a founding member of the Frear Park Conservancy in Troy.
Pearson has finished 39 marathons. He has raised more than $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and more than $9,000 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Team Fox for Parkinson’s research.