In the Spotlight: Meet Your Chamber Director

The TRL Chamber Marketing Team recently sat down with Chamber Executive Director, Dave Liebenow.  We asked him a few questions about himself--personally and professionally, how he became the Executive Director, what he loves about this area, and what he sees for the future of the Chamber.  

We also asked him to tell us something about himself that no-one knows, well, at least until now!  Enjoy.

1.) How did you become the Chamber Director?  Where did you come from?  I retired from 3M in St. Paul, MN June 2009 and we moved to the lake in April 2010.  My background and experience with 3M was in business development and marketing.  I managed a few key businesses at 3M.  "Scotchgard" fabric protector for retail business, first aid products for retail, animal health products, and an acne product line called Buf-Puf.  My last job at 3M was to manage the relationship between 22 divisions of 3M and WW Grainger.  Grainger is the largest industrial distributor in the world.

My plan was to start small business consulting, so I joined the chamber to get connected with the businesses in the area.  My wife, Bev, and I got very involved volunteering and becoming Ambassadors for the chamber.  When the Executive Director position became vacant my wife encouraged me to apply for the job.  Seven months later I was asked to be the Executive Director and started in March of 2011.  

Dave with wife, Bev

2.) What do you love most about this area?  It's all about the lake.  That's what brought Bev and I to the area, and that's what we fell in love with.

3.) What do you see for the future of this Chamber?  I see a much stronger Chamber going forward.  We have spent considerable time in rebuilding, as well as setting, our strategy for the future.  The three largest challenges are; 1.)  financial stability, 2.) bringing "value" to our members and 3.) membership growth.  We continue to look for ideas to raise funds to keep our Chamber liquid.  We also recently hired Robb Stark as Director of Sales.  His focus will be to sell Chamber programs to our members that will help them connect to our visitors.  This will help in building financial stability for the organization.

I believe our business development workshop breakfasts have brought much "value" to our members as well as our continued focus on economic development for the area.  Heather Cognito will now be focused on membership development.  She will not only focus on gaining new members, but she will also work with our existing members to help educate them on identifying and connecting to the programs the Chamber offers that will help them better manage and grow their business.  I'm always looking for new ideas to help our businesses do a better job and bring more value for their investment.  We have put together a full year of half-day and full-day seminars that will be held in the Kimberling City area,  We are bringing these seminars to our members so that our members don't have to travel to Springfield or other places.

The other major "value" our Chamber brings is the fact that we are the Designated Marketing Organization for Stone County.  With this designation we qualify for state and local funds to promote the lake area.  This year we will receive about $285,000 that will be used to promote the lake in four major markets; Tulsa, Little Rock, Des Moines and Kansas City.  Bringing more people to the area helps everyone in the lake region.

4.) Tell us something that no one knows about you!  I sang lead and was the Assistant Director in a Barbershop Chorus in Minnesota for almost 20 years.