Salina Area Chamber of Commerce CEO reflects on local progress, partnerships

Though Eric Brown will depart from the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce next month, he won’t let up on his passion for helping small businesses.

Brown announced this week he will be leaving the chamber for a position with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas. There, he will continue to advocate for small businesses in nine counties across north central Kansas. His last day with the Chamber will be in early January 2023.

“I’m going to be able to take these skills and relationships and contacts into my next career with Blue Cross Blue Shield and really continue the work around my passion,” Brown said.

A dedication to small business

Brown started with the chamber back in 2011, where he began as the workforce development director. Later on, he held roles as the business development director and vice president before a 7-month stint at Bennington State Bank. Then in 2019, he was called back to the chamber and named CEO.

Throughout his time at the chamber, Brown’s biggest highlights had centered on workforce development and building relationships.

Some things he said stand out include working with school districts and local employers on career and technical education pathways and working with Salina Area Technical College on its welding and commercial truck driver programs.

Of course, the first line item on his job description when he started as president and CEO was developing the Salina Area Young Professionals organization, which has grown and thrived since its inception.

Brown said he is grateful for all of these opportunities and not only the experiences they gave him, but how local entities grew through them.

“It’s the old saying that ‘the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago or today,’ and it’s the same with workforce development” Brown said.

He couldn’t ignore, either, how the COVID-19 pandemic was a highlight in positive and negative ways all the same. It was a unique time to be with a chamber, he said, with no playbook in hand to guide decisions.

At the time, there were different layers that made up how the business community, employers and society worked together. But seeing key economic indicators remaining strong after the pandemic was a testament to the workforce and local leadership in the greater Salina area, he said.

“Our chamber was proud of staff and what they were able to do to make sure that businesses had the most accurate information and kept up to date on opportunities to survive that pandemic,” Brown said.

Another positive that came from the pandemic, Brown said, was a woman who dared to move at the time.

Brown hired Renee Duxler, the chamber’s director of economic and workforce development, at the height of the pandemic in August 2020.

After working in executive director roles in Wichita, Salina was an adjustment for Duxler.

“It was a little bit of a transition for me to work under somebody again, but I couldn’t have asked for a better boss – a better leader,” Duxler said.

The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee named Duxler to serve in the interim CEO role until the organization choses a long-term candidate.

“She has a great skillset, being a small business owner previously,” Brown said of Duxler. “Working with elected officials, she really fits the mold of what a chamber executive can be and should be. … I’m excited to be able to leave the organization in a good place and have the opportunity for Renee to step in as interim and keep that momentum going as well.”

For Duxler, a big piece of her interim role will be providing continuity. Building on existing strength the chamber has for business advocacy and maintaining relationships will be an essential part of that role, she said.

Building relationships and sustaining community pride

As a member organization, Brown and Duxler said they realize the chamber’s building and maintaining strong relationships will always be important.

Brown said he kept a focus on being a good steward of funds, being a good communicator and being transparent. On the other side of that coin was a community rallying around itself in new and exciting ways, he said.

“The momentum of the community is, I would say, the highest it’s been probably for over 50 or 60 years, for sure,” Brown said.

Duxler agreed with Brown and shared a similar sentiment.

“Everybody is kind of pushing in the same direction which isn’t always the case, I think it’s kind of a little bit of an enigma honestly – and that’s not always been the case for Salina, either,” Duxler said. “But right now, the stars have aligned. I think we’ve got all the right people in all the right places and it’s just been great to be a part of that.”

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina Area Chamber CEO reflects on local progress, partnerships