By Bryan Corliss
Herald Writer
LYNNWOOD — Former Everett Chamber of Commerce vice president Jean Hales is the new president and chief executive of the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce.
Hales was named to the post Tuesday. She’d been filling the job on an interim basis since July.
Hales has the experience to "lead this organization to its next level," said Jeff Coate, the south county chamber’s chairman. In particular, he cited her experience in program development.
Hales is "well-grounded in the community and will provide a strategic focus for the organization," added Deborah Knutsen, the president of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council. "I look forward to our working closely together."
Hales is a member of the council’s board of directors. She also is on the Lynnwood City Center project’s oversight committee, the Lynnwood Tourism Advisory Committee and the board of Leadership Snohomish County.
She replaces Sheryl McGrath, who left the south county chamber after a year-and-a-half for a job with a Lutheran social services agency in Spokane.
Hales was with the Everett chamber for 10 years, six of those as its vice president.
She left in August 2000 to open her own business, Artisans Well, in Lynnwood. But the store, which offered hand-crafted items, faltered during the early stages of this year’s economic slow-down, and this summer she closed it with plans to convert it to an online business.
Before that could happen, the interim job at the south county chamber came open and she took it.
Much of what she’s done as interim director revolves around a new action plan, Hales said.
The new plan focuses the group’s activities to four areas: business advocacy, business services, community and economic development and membership, she said.
The idea is to stick to these areas and avoid "allowing ourselves to be spread so thin we’re not effective at anything," she said.
The chamber also will be involved with the proposed Lynnwood convention center and downtown development projects, she said. And it wants to build partnerships with the business communities in Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace.
You can call Herald Writer Bryan Corliss at 425-339-3454
or send e-mail to corliss@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.