Chamber of Commerce hires new CEO

A Letter from the Chairman of the Board

Dear Chamber Members,

On behalf of our CEO Search Committee and our Chamber Board, I am pleased to announce the hiring of Richard Bonney as the new President and CEO of the Mount Pleasant-Titus County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Council. Bonney brings with him years of relevant experience from both the Chamber world and the business world. He is a highly qualified CEO at his current Chamber of Commerce in Meridian, ID, where, over the last 2 years, he has helped grow Chamber membership, hosted a number of successful community events, and improved the organization’s financial standing. Bonney also brings with him experience from the private sector, having served 3+ years as the Director for the East Idaho Associated General Contractors, where he worked with all levels of government agencies, both local and state, as well as agencies for local economic development projects. We believe that these combined experiences will serve him well in his new role in our community.

To recap our search process, the Board of Directors was notified at our June meeting that current CEO, Katie Stedman, planned to resign her position in order to pursue other professional endeavors. The Board moved quickly to establish a five-person Search Committee comprised of members of our Chamber’s Executive Board, our Board at large, and a representative from our member community. Additionally, we selected Jorgenson Consulting, a national executive search firm specializing in non-profit, economic, and community development organizations to lead the search. The official search opened on June 28th . In total, there were 30 qualified applicants reviewed by Jorgenson. After their initial screening process, 10 candidates were put forth to our Search Committee. From that list, seven received a second interview from the Committee. That pool was narrowed to 3 highly qualified candidates who were advanced through a final interview process that included an opportunity for our Board, ex-officios, and staff members to meet and interact with each candidate. The Search Committee made a hiring recommendation to the full Board on Wed, Sept 25th and the Board voted unanimously to accept that recommendation and pursue Richard Bonney as our new CEO.

Our community is extremely fortunate to have a strong, active, and supportive Chamber. I would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who participated in this process. I especially appreciate our Board and the Search Committee members who acted diligently and professionally to conduct a thorough and expedient search to find a proven leader with a clear vision for our future. I have no doubt that we will continue to grow and thrive under the leadership of Mr. Bonney.

Best Regards,
Courtney Dyer
2019 Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mount Pleasant-Titus County Ch