Past and present Beaver County Chamber of Commerce members reflect on 50th anniversary
BEAVER – When Sam Webber was named the executive director of the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce in the late 1980s, he said it was an “interesting” time in the county’s history.
By then, many of the county’s factories and industries, such as J&L, Crucible, and B&W, had closed or were in the process of closing.
Webber said the economic and financial situation in the county looked bleak, but said it took individuals and organizations, such as the chamber of commerce, to not only help revitalize the county, but also have the county’s businesses and nonprofits work together.
On June 28, the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce marked its 50th anniversary, having been officially incorporated on June 28, 1972.
To mark the occasion, members, both past and present, spoke about their time and experience working with the chamber, how it is a vital organization for the county, and how they feel about the chamber’s big anniversary.
Brittany Golden
Brittney Golden currently serves as the chairwoman of the chamber’s board of directors.
She represents the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) on the board, as she is the current dean of students.
Golden said she has worked with the chamber for 13 years, serving on its executive committee, then began serving on the board four years ago, first as secretary, then vice-chair, and finally as chair as of April 2021.
She has also worked with the chamber, for 10 years, as the head of the member services committee, as well as working with the gala, marketing and fundraising committees.
“I feel like I’ve done it all,” Golden said.
Golden was previously named the chamber’s ambassador of the year in 2018.
She said she loves working with the chamber, stating she loves helping all businesses and nonprofits, no matter how big or small, as well as helping them to connect with each other to help them grow.
Golden said while the chamber’s executive director, who is currently Donna Lee Siple, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the chamber, the board of directors is responsible for the larger strategic planning and initiatives of the organization.
While the board of directors meets monthly, she said many of them, including herself, stay active in different chamber matters, and are involved in different chamber sub-committees.
Golden said it is not only the goal of the chamber to help its members, but to also try and improve the quality of life and work in the county, to make it a great place to live in.
“We want Beaver County to be very welcoming to everyone,” she said. “We want others to love Beaver County like we love it.”
Golden said during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chamber worked as a great source of information for businesses and nonprofits on all of the different relief programs and funding that were available, that they might not have been aware of.
“We tried to be a good conduit of information,” she said.
Golden said the chamber works to support, educate and advocate for its members, with its leadership always evaluating to see not only what community events the public wants to attend, but what programs it can do to help the public, such as its Leadership Beaver County program.
She said the chamber is constantly holding different networking events, as well as collaborating with different organizations.
When asked about the chamber’s 50th anniversary, Golden said she feels tremendous pride in the chamber, stating she hopes it continues to evolve to meet the needs of its members.
She said it is still a relevant organization to many people in the community, and said the chamber’s 50th anniversary has been incorporated into all of its events this year, including its upcoming Business of the Year Awards on Nov. 3.
Jack Manning
Current Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning first joined the chamber as a small business member in 2010, before joining the board of directors in 2012, where he was a member of the chamber’s economic development committee, which helped formed an economic development plan.
He later became the chamber executive director from 2015 until his inauguration as commissioner in January 2020.
Manning said his work with the chamber served as an accumulation of a lifetime of work for the community, as he had worked with different businesses, nonprofits and boards.
He said during his tenure as director, he worked to evolve the chamber into a new image in the community, bringing in many non-business organizations to its membership/board, such as churches, nonprofits, social services, healthcare, industrial and education.
Manning said he would often collaborate with other chambers of commerce to share ideas and perspectives and would attend the annual Pennsylvania Association of Chamber Professionals (PACP) and PA Chamber “Chamber Day” in Harrisburg.
Manning said he remembers driving to Chamber Day in March 2012 whenever Shell Corp. made the announcement it would develop its “cracker plant,” later called the Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, in Beaver County.
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He said by the time he got there, the news had already spread, and members were coming up to him and the other Beaver County delegation asking how they felt about the news.
Manning said during his tenure, the chamber worked closely with the three higher education institutions in the county – CCBC, Penn State-Beaver and Geneva College, on different workforce development programs for not just businesses/nonprofits, but for the community as a whole.
This included having different STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) programs in middle schools in the fall.
Manning said he was involved in the chamber’s government affairs committee, where the committee members meet with different elected officials to try and give its members a voice.
He said he still attends the committee’s meetings every month.
Manning said he is excited that the chamber is 50 years old, and even more excited to see the chamber continue to grow and evolve.
He added that a successful chamber is not the result of one person or industry, but is the result of a collected body as a whole who represents the community to the best of their abilities.
Sam Weber
Weber served as chamber executive director from the late '80s to 2000.
Weber said he had to navigate through the economic decline the county was going through with the closing of its mills, stating it was challenging, as a result, for the chamber to help promote the county’s businesses.
Despite the setback, Weber said he was pleased that chamber members and other businesses worked together, with different government leaders at all levels, to help come up with a plan and a vision for the county, rather than simply turn a blind eye to each other.
During his tenure, he said the chamber got involved in helping develop Rochester Riverfront Park, as well as bringing back the Beaver County River Regatta.
Weber said every community is different, therefore, he said it was important that the chamber and its leadership were largely able to understand the needs of each community and form a plan around that.
He said the chamber has a good working relationship with different state organizations, such as the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).
Weber added he worked with a lot of great groups and individuals over the years and said the chamber’s success did not come from one or a few individuals, but as a collective whole of everyone in the county.
“As a business community, we were fortunate for the type of leadership we had,” he said.
Barbara Bateman McNees
Barbara Bateman McNees was first hired as an assistant in 1980, and eventually became the executive director from 1982-89.
Like Webber, McNees said she remembers when the chamber was “very robust,” thanks to the support and membership of the large banks and mills, with at one point the chamber having over 500 member organizations and businesses.
However, when the mills shut down, and the county entered a period of recession, she said the chamber, under her direction, pivoted to help small businesses, through small business development centers, such as the one through Duquesne University, to help them survive.
That strategy worked, as the chamber was able to get new members from small to medium-sized businesses, and made sure the chamber never ran at a financial loss during her tenure.
“As trying as the time were, it was very gratifying,” McNees said.
She said the chamber helped initiate the Duquesne University Small Business Development Center, in which officials from the university would make appointments with new or upcoming small business owners, to help with their finances, their accounting, and their business plan.
McNees said the chamber was instrumental in creating the Beaver County Corporation for Economic Development (CED) and helped businesses with marketing by hosting different outreach events.
She said it feels fabulous knowing the chamber is 50 years old, stating the chamber still has a strong sense of community involvement, and that there is still a need for a chamber of commerce in the county.
Sam Siple
Sam Siple was with the chamber from the mid-'90s through the early 2000s, first as a committee member, then for a few terms on the board, where he served as vice chairman and chairman.
He represented higher education through Geneva College.
Siple said he had a good experience with the chamber due to a good “cross-representation” of different businesses, industries and organizations.
Like Webber, he said he remembers the chamber and its members coming together to recover from the economic troubles of the '80s, in order to make the county a great place to live and thrive.
Siple said he enjoyed being on the board because while the members had their different opinions, they were all unified in the chamber’s role in helping the county.
He said he was also surprised with the diversity of members on the board and was equally surprised that the business leaders wanted all sectors in the county to flourish, stating if they succeed, the whole community will succeed as a result.
Siple said it is a great milestone for the chamber to turn 50, stating the chamber helped the county be a “phoenix rising from the ashes,” in regard to its economic recovery, and hopes the chamber and its members continue to advance the county further in the future.
Siple’s wife, Donna Lee Siple, is the current executive director of the chamber.
Siple said whenever he first found out about the position’s opening, he said his wife should apply based on her previous experience through the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania and the Japan-America Society of Tennessee, stating she resonated with the position.
Siple said his wife was lucky because the day she turned in her application was the last day the chamber was accepting applications for the role.
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Cynthia Corsetti
Cynthia Corsetti previously served as chamber president, as well as a leadership coach, a business coach, and an executive coach from January 2002 to September 2005.
She is currently an executive coach and career transition coach through her business Cynthia Corsetti Coaching in Sewickley.
Corsetti said she used the lessons and experiences she gained from her time with the chamber to help with the rest of her career, including her current role in coaching.
In fact, it was a former chamber board member that helped her get her next job following her departure from the chamber.
Corsetti said the chamber board and staff “took her by the hand” to help her when she first started and essentially helped train her to become an executive coach in the future.
“It was probably one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had,” she said.
Corsetti said she worked with an engaged and supportive group of business leaders, who were non-competitive with each other, instead, trying to actively help and support one another.
Overall, she said Beaver County was a supportive environment, with the chamber board never micromanaging her, and did whatever they could to help her in her role.
During her tenure, Corsetti worked to increase the chamber’s membership and engage with the community more.
She said she was impressed that bigger businesses would often help out smaller businesses.
Corsetti said she is happy the chamber is still thriving, and is happy for the Siple family, as Sam Siple was on the board whenever she was president.
Kevin Cooke
Kevin Cooke has been involved with the chamber for over 40 years and was a member of the chamber board of directors for 15-16 years.
He first joined the chamber through his former photography business Graule Studios in Rochester, and later joined the board of directors, serving as chairman twice.
“I had a very good experience,” Cooke said.
Cooke said when he was chairman, he made it a priority to get more small businesses involved as members, as when he first joined, the membership was largely dominated by big banks and mills.
He also said when the chamber started, it was largely focused on the Upper Beaver Valley area, so it was a priority to get members from all over the county.
Cooke said he had a good working relationship with the other board members during his tenure, as they not only worked to make sure businesses and nonprofits grew in the county, but also formed relationships with outside organizations, such as Duquesne University, and different elected representatives, to help out further.
“I was very happy to say I was a member,” Cooke said. “I still think the idea of the chamber is great.”
Mike Rubino
Mike Rubino, who is the soon-to-be retiring executive director of the United Way of Beaver County, said he has been a member of the chamber since 1981.
Rubino said he first joined the chamber through his co-owned computer store in Patterson Township, the Second Childhood Computer Workshop.
Back then, he said he was a part of one of the chamber’s committees, and helped with different events, such as their former phone-a-thon.
Rubino said he worked with the chamber during his work with WQED Multimedia, which included WQED-TV, WQED radio and Pittsburgh Magazine.
He also worked with the chamber through his role with the former Quigley Catholic High School, as well as with the United Way.
Rubino said the chamber, and its staff/personnel, are important to the county due to its work and promotion of small businesses and nonprofits, giving them a voice, and its role in promoting synergy between its members.
“I think the chamber is so vital to the economy of Beaver County,” he said.
Rubino said once he formally retires, he will become an individual member of the chamber.
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Harry Kunselman
Harry Kunselman has been involved with the chamber for at least 10 years, first serving in the government affairs committee, and has been serving as the chamber’s solicitor since 2015.
He said it has been a great experience working with the chamber, particularly meeting all of the chamber’s members and personnel who wish to help move the county forward in a positive direction.
“It’s been a great experience because many of the members are leaders in their respective communities,” Kunselman said.
He said since the chamber is a private, nonprofit agency, his solicitor duties are different than a solicitor for a governing agency.
Kunselman said he attends the monthly board of directors meetings and helps with any executive committee matters, such as contracts and personnel matters.
He said the board is a group of members who advocate for the chamber’s members, as well as want to help improve the quality of life in Beaver County.
Kunselman added it’s an amazing accomplishment for the chamber to turn 50 this year.
“It’s alive and well, and growing, and that’s really refreshing to see,” he said.
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Lynn Jessep
Lynn Jessep worked with the chamber from 1987-92, first starting as a front-desk receptionist, and later becoming an assistant to the director.
Through this assistant role, she got to help plan the different activities and events the chamber hosted during the year.
“I loved going out meeting the people,” Jessep said. “It was a very fulfilling job.”
She said she loved meeting with new small business owners, and helping them to open their businesses in the county, stating she felt wonderful every time a new business opened its doors.
Jessep said she is happy with the chamber’s 50th anniversary, and its continued relevance in helping to promote small businesses, despite the advent of the internet and smartphone technology.
Rose Mary Fix
Rose Mary Fix worked with the chamber from 2003-18, where she served as finance manager, as well as membership director, the latter of which helped with member recruitment and retention.
“Without membership, there is no chamber,” she said.
Fix said before she was hired, she didn’t know what a chamber of commerce was, nor how important it was for a community.
Now, she knows how important the chamber is, stating it was a great experience to work there and see its impact on the community.
“I was a positive experience all around,” Fix said.
She said the chamber did much to help businesses and nonprofits, whether it be helping them start out, hosting networking events, or hosting legislative events to gain the support of local politicians, as well as make sure the businesses/nonprofits were informed of what was going on legislatively in the county.
“They try to cover all bases,” Fix said.
She said the board came from diverse backgrounds and fields, but were always working hard to listen and help its members.
Jessep said everyone in the chamber depended and supported each other, all for the overall betterment of the community.
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Nicholas Vercilla is a staff reporter for the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at nvercilla@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Beaver County Chamber of Commerce marks 50th anniversary
