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OWOSSO – The Shiawassee Regional Chamber of Commerce recently announced that the new year has brought changes to its board of directors. Laura Archer, CEO and president of Shiawassee Family YMCA, has been promoted from chair to vice chair on the board. Rebecca Dahlke, of Memorial Healthcare, will assume the vice chair role. In addition, Ruthann Liagre, former longtime SRCC interim executive director, is part of the SRCC leadership team as its secretary. “As we step into this new year, I am deeply honored to lead this exceptional team of board members and to continue the chamber’s legacy of innovation and collaboration,” Archer said. “Together, we will build on our strong foundation, addressing the needs of our members and expanding opportunities for growth and success throughout the region.” The chamber is also welcoming these three new board members – Casey Lambert, Julianne Ackerson and Deana Wheeler. “The energy and expertise that this leadership team and our new board members bring to the table is truly exciting,” said Jordan Hankwitz, president and CEO of the chamber. “I am equally grateful for the dedication and hard work of our current board members, whose contributions have been, and will undoubtedly continue to be, instrumental in ensuring the chamber’s success. Together, this incredible team will continue driving our support of the regional business community.” Lambert, an independent social media/public relations/marketing professional described in an SRCC press release as having “a dynamic mix of marketing, public relations, multimedia, and community engagement experience,” said he joined the board because he feels it’s important to give back to the community. “I think being able to share my expertise and experience with new business owners, with longstanding businesses within the community, is really going to help grow us from a commerce standpoint,” said Lambert. “And from a civic standpoint as well. Albeit Owosso is only a 14,000-person community, we truly believe we can continue to grow and be able to reach into areas like Lansing and Flint to really ensure generational economic prosperity for families that want to stay here and carve out a life here.” Ackerson, who is the assistant vice president of operations for Lansing Area Federal Credit Union, was a board member from 2019 to 2022. “I spoke with (previous board chairperson) Char Hebekeuser (of Tri-Mer Cooperation) and she asked me if I’d be interested in rejoining,” Ackerson said. “Due to work constraints, when my term ended, I was done. Now things have lightened up a bit. I came back because now I have more flexibility to give the amount of time that’s needed to give to a board.” Wheeler is manager of concession and souvenirs for Owosso Speedway. She additionally manages the custodial team, assists with recruiting and hiring and social media and handles marketing in the off season. She said a lot of the business they conduct is local and they try not to outsource things. “Our owner believes in the value of meeting people within the community and making connections, and businesses helping other businesses,” Wheeler said. “We’re really focused on local relationships and building the businesses in the community, so that was really the main reason for becoming part of the chamber.” In addition to their individual reasons for becoming SRCC Board of Directors members, Wheeler, Ackerson and Lambert have goals they’d like to accomplish while occupying their seats. “My goal is to partner with the rest of the wonderful and amazing women that are on the board and to bring the chamber back into prominence in the public eye,” Lambert said. “In order to do that we’re going to have to use all of our collective skills and mindsets, but it really has more to do with how we engage the public and how do we help the businesses that trust us with their membership reach the public and get the resources that they need.” “One of the goals is obviously to see how we can help our membership,” Ackerson said. “That’s always been a goal of the board of directors, it’s how we can better the membership experience with the Chamber. That’s one of the things I’d like to see happen. How can we better their experience? How can we offer them something that’s more appealing that will help their businesses and want them to join the chamber?” “My goal is to just help (Hankwitz) in any way I can to grow the chamber to what his vision is,” Wheeler said. “He’s been making a lot of changes just in the short time he’s been there. He has a lot goals to increase chamber attendance, bring more businesses in, not just for them but for other businesses as well. Meet partners and get new ideas. I’ll probably be more on the membership and marketing side to help him foster that and grow it any way that we can.” The three new board members replace Dan Montes of Wieland Builds, Andrew Reger of Edward Jones and Hebekeuser, who saw their two-year terms come to end.
OWOSSO – The Shiawassee Regional Chamber of Commerce recently announced that the new year has brought changes to its board of directors.
Laura Archer, CEO and president of Shiawassee Family YMCA, has been promoted from chair to vice chair on the board. Rebecca Dahlke, of Memorial Healthcare, will assume the vice chair role. In addition, Ruthann Liagre, former longtime SRCC interim executive director, is part of the SRCC leadership team as its secretary.
“As we step into this new year, I am deeply honored to lead this exceptional team of board members and to continue the chamber’s legacy of innovation and collaboration,” Archer said. “Together, we will build on our strong foundation, addressing the needs of our members and expanding opportunities for growth and success throughout the region.”
The chamber is also welcoming these three new board members – Casey Lambert, Julianne Ackerson and Deana Wheeler.
“The energy and expertise that this leadership team and our new board members bring to the table is truly exciting,” said Jordan Hankwitz, president and CEO of the chamber. “I am equally grateful for the dedication and hard work of our current board members, whose contributions have been, and will undoubtedly continue to be, instrumental in ensuring the chamber’s success. Together, this incredible team will continue driving our support of the regional business community.”
Lambert, an independent social media/public relations/marketing professional described in an SRCC press release as having “a dynamic mix of marketing, public relations, multimedia, and community engagement experience,” said he joined the board because he feels it’s important to give back to the community.
“I think being able to share my expertise and experience with new business owners, with longstanding businesses within the community, is really going to help grow us from a commerce standpoint,” said Lambert. “And from a civic standpoint as well. Albeit Owosso is only a 14,000-person community, we truly believe we can continue to grow and be able to reach into areas like Lansing and Flint to really ensure generational economic prosperity for families that want to stay here and carve out a life here.”
Ackerson, who is the assistant vice president of operations for Lansing Area Federal Credit Union, was a board member from 2019 to 2022.
“I spoke with (previous board chairperson) Char Hebekeuser (of Tri-Mer Cooperation) and she asked me if I’d be interested in rejoining,” Ackerson said. “Due to work constraints, when my term ended, I was done. Now things have lightened up a bit. I came back because now I have more flexibility to give the amount of time that’s needed to give to a board.”
Wheeler is manager of concession and souvenirs for Owosso Speedway. She additionally manages the custodial team, assists with recruiting and hiring and social media and handles marketing in the off season. She said a lot of the business they conduct is local and they try not to outsource things.
“Our owner believes in the value of meeting people within the community and making connections, and businesses helping other businesses,” Wheeler said. “We’re really focused on local relationships and building the businesses in the community, so that was really the main reason for becoming part of the chamber.”
In addition to their individual reasons for becoming SRCC Board of Directors members, Wheeler, Ackerson and Lambert have goals they’d like to accomplish while occupying their seats.
“My goal is to partner with the rest of the wonderful and amazing women that are on the board and to bring the chamber back into prominence in the public eye,” Lambert said. “In order to do that we’re going to have to use all of our collective skills and mindsets, but it really has more to do with how we engage the public and how do we help the businesses that trust us with their membership reach the public and get the resources that they need.”
“One of the goals is obviously to see how we can help our membership,” Ackerson said. “That’s always been a goal of the board of directors, it’s how we can better the membership experience with the Chamber. That’s one of the things I’d like to see happen. How can we better their experience? How can we offer them something that’s more appealing that will help their businesses and want them to join the chamber?”
“My goal is to just help (Hankwitz) in any way I can to grow the chamber to what his vision is,” Wheeler said. “He’s been making a lot of changes just in the short time he’s been there. He has a lot goals to increase chamber attendance, bring more businesses in, not just for them but for other businesses as well. Meet partners and get new ideas. I’ll probably be more on the membership and marketing side to help him foster that and grow it any way that we can.”
The three new board members replace Dan Montes of Wieland Builds, Andrew Reger of Edward Jones and Hebekeuser, who saw their two-year terms come to end.