Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
From the Chamber’s President/CEO
One of my several jobs here at the Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce is to look ahead, anticipate, plan for, and then deliver on any number of projects and services that our community and Chamber investors need for their businesses to be successful. That job requires research, a lot of juggling, along with quick actions and decisions, and more, but it’s essential for our business community.
As a retired Air Force officer, I had several assignments where those same attributes were used daily, sometimes hourly, like ‘on alert’ 90 feet underground in a launch control center responsible for 10 nucleartipped Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.
These two positions share another common element. People. Talented, smart people. People who care as much about the mission as you do. Each has his or her own area of expertise, but focused together, you make a well-oiled team. In the Air Force I had many valuable team members. The same is true at the Harrison Chamber.
The small team here consists of Investor and Diversity Manager Amy Deere, Operations Manager Lloyd Mahoney, part-time Digital Media Manager Beka Thompson, and Summer Intern Addie Jones. They’re each talented, very talented!
Key to this team is Chamber Vice President Wilson Marseilles. A Harrison native, UCA graduate and finance major, scratch golfer, pretty good basketball player … and most importantly, the glue that holds the team together. Young, smart, and immensely mature beyond his age, Wilson came to work for the Chamber in October 2019. In the 42 months since, he’s excelled in an industry that’s not often kind to its people. He’s learned from the bottom-up, making ‘cold calls’ with potential investors, developing and delivering presentations to major business and community groups, seamlessly engaging with CEOs and senior elected officials throughout the region and state, and emptying the trash when necessary.
He’s taken advantage of professional development, including the State Chamber’s Boot Camp, Mid-South Basic Economic Development Course, UCA’s Community Development Institute, US Chamber’s Institute for Organizational Development, Class XVII of Leadership Arkansas, and many others. He’s recognized by our team and his peers as an ‘intreprenuer and go-giver.’
There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ and that’s evident from our Chamber staff. Everyone - Amy, Lloyd, Beka, Addie and Wilson - has their job to do, and most importantly, everyone works together for the end game, the mission of economic development through leadership, education, and investor partnerships. It’s not important who gets the credit here, just that our investors and the community as a whole receive a return on their investment.
I, and the community, are blessed to have these talented, resourceful and dedicated members of the Chamber team … where we are taking care of business each and every day!