Port commissioner to lead chambers of commerce

EVERETT — Troy McClelland, a Fluke Corp. executive and an Everett Port commissioner, will be Snohomish County’s top business advocate, officials announced Monday.

McClelland, a former career Naval officer who remains an operations officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, is the chief executive officer and president of a new organization that combines the Economic Development Council of Snohomish County and the Everett Area and South Snohomish County chambers of commerce.

McClelland, a director of corporate procurement for Everett-based Fluke, will start his new position Jan. 17.

McClelland said his job will be working with business and governmental leaders throughout the county “so we speak with one voice” and providing a new vitality to the business community.

His first task will be working with everyone involved to determine what the new organization will look like and “putting together a new vision and the tenets for how the organization will operate.”

He said it will also be important “to develop measures by which we’re going to define success.” Job creation will certainly be among them, he said.

A group of business leaders made a national search for the position before selecting McClelland.

The intention of the directors of the groups, the three largest business organizations in the county, was to develop a single agency to promote business growth and lobby on a unified behalf over business issues.

”I am beyond thrilled that McClelland has accepted this offer and am eager to watch him step up to the plate,” Rick Cooper, EDC chairman, said in a prepared statement. Cooper was instrumental in promoting the new, unified organization.

Mark Lewinski, the new chairman of the Everett chamber, also said McClelland was a good choice, noting the new position calls for “a balance of start-up experience coupled with results-oriented leadership.”

Stan Finley, chairman of the South County chamber, said that “finding the right leader is a crucial decision for this new organization and the future of this county.”

McClelland has worked for Fluke since 2002. He is serving his second year of a six-year term on the port commission and was named vice chairman of the commission last week.

He said his intention is to remain on the port commission.