Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce is in the process of rebuilding its programs after coming back from the financial brink about two years ago.
Under the direction of Chamber President George Medellin and the Board of Directors, much of the legwork is being done by a group of paid staff cobbled together over the past six months.
McKenzie Thomas is the organization’s new full-time office manager. She began working at the chamber in October.
“My family’s from Sweet Home,” said Thomas, who owns an online “virtual staffing” agency, which provides remote staffing for businesses. “I’ve kind of been here, in and out of Sweet Home, all my life.”
Thomas returned to Sweet Home when her grandmother passed away to take care of her property. She applied for the job at the chamber after volunteering on the Capitol Christmas Tree Committee last year. She learned about the job opening while serving on the committee.
Thomas, 38, is married to Cornell Thomas. They have two children, Christian, 4, and Adrian, 2.
She earned her master’s degree in public administration from Rutgers University in New Jersey. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from American University in Washington, D.C.
She lived in the United Arab Emirates and worked at the chamber of commerce there as a paralegal in maritime law while after completing her bachelor’s degree.
“I would say this is my absolute favorite, best job,” Thomas said. “Sweet Home is such a gem. Everybody wants to live in Sweet Home.”
She has a five-minute commute, noting that she worked at White’s Electronics prior to graduate school, she said, and “we know each other.”
She is working with three other employees, who are funded by an Easter Seals program.
They include Ann Anderson, who works on events and recruitment; Savannah Young, who is an administrative assistant; and Mike McCoy, who is working on homeless and veteran issues and establishing an employee retention program.
The Easter Seals is paying the employees as part of a training program for those 55 and older to work with computers and social media in the community.
“We’re establishing standards, establishing rules and regulations, roles and responsibilities,” Thomas said. “Re-establishing the framework.”
They are laying the foundation for the chamber office while continuing to operate the Visitor Information Center and run events like the awards banquet and Sportsman’s Holiday, she said; but they want to focus on better serving their business members and community as well as helping develop tourism and showing a place where people can live and work.
The chamber has developed a new website as part of its effort to better serve its businesses, Thomas said, but it’s got a long way to go.
The chamber is interested in collaborating with other Sweet Home organizations, streamlining efforts where different groups, like the Small Business Development Center, the city and the Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort, are not working in silos, Thomas said. Chamber officials want to facilitate success with local businesses and advocate and lobby on their behalf.
“All of that’s kind of in formation,” Thomas said. “It depends on the business community letting us know (what it wants). The idea is what we’re doing lasts.”
Her goal is to ensure that it can continue long after those currently working in the chamber and on the board have moved on, she said. “We’re in the building stage.”