VIP: Louise Stanton-Masten

This month, Louise Stanton-Masten celebrates seven years as the president and chief executive officer of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, a 600-member business organization dedicated to creating a strong local economy.

During her time at the helm, Stanton-Masten has been witness to and participant of a prospering Everett, one that includes the Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center as well as a redeveloping North Marina and Snohomish Riverfront to the west and east of the city’s downtown core.

She and the chamber’s staff and board of directors have worked in support of Naval Station Everett during the most recent Base Realignment and Closure Commission proceedings, and during the past few years have put a renewed emphasis on the educational needs of a growing population and work force — including the push for a University of Washington branch campus.

And while the work of the chamber “always expands to fill the time you have available,” the New England transplant describes the experience as “absolutely fabulous.”

“I’m very passionate about the work here,” Stanton-Masten said. “Creating a strong local economy is what we do at the chamber, promoting the community, representing business, offering networking opportunities. I’m constantly energized about it.”

She said her passion for community development and the work of the chamber stems from her childhood.

“As a child growing up in Vermont, my father was very active in the chamber in Burlington. … I got to see firsthand the importance, first of all, the importance of being involved in the chamber as a business and what an important role the chamber plays in creating a strong local economy.”

While attending the University of Vermont, Stanton-Masten’s interest in community development led her to study public housing and transportation. She then went on to the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she earned a master’s degree in urban planning and policy.

Out of graduate school, she worked at the Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois, where she designed and managed planning studies, worked on the agency’s annual capital and operating program and budget, and conducted research and analysis on transit system planning projects.

Then, in 1979, she and her husband, Paul Masten, took a trip that would change their lives — a train trip from Chicago to the Northwest with a stop at Yellowstone along the way.

“Once we got to Seattle, I could have moved here then,” Stanton-Masten said, smiling.

“It’s similar to New England in so many ways but with so many more options for outdoor activities,” said the avid skier and newly minted golfer.

So the two began looking for opportunities to move west. A few years later, Masten took a job in downtown Edmonds and the couple, with their 3-year-old son, Eric Masten, moved to Lynnwood in 1983. By 1984, Stanton-Masten had opened her own consulting firm, Stanton-Masten Associates Inc., providing public policy, transportation, land-use planning and economic development services.

When the opportunity opened at the Everett chamber, Stanton-Masten was ready for the challenge.

“I was looking to do something that had more direct applicability to businesses and economic development,” she said, noting that she also remembered her dad’s role in creating a strong economy in his own community via the chamber.

Now, seven years later, Stanton-Masten can take pride in her own involvement with the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, which has grown its capabilities in the past few years to include a full-time government affairs analyst as well as a marketing and communications manager.

In the past year, the chamber has undergone a strategic planning process to position itself as a champion for business that “advocates for business and community development, and creates opportunities for member prosperity.”

“It’s a focus on how we develop the programs and services that our members want,” Stanton-Masten said.

“It’s very rewarding to me to look back at my dad’s history and tradition with the chamber of commerce and feel like I’m playing a similar role,” she added.