Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day

Front Row (from left to right): Jo Lynn Rhodes, Dale Seiwert, Jan Baggett, John Rolfe, Rita Ranney, Pat Gallagher, Samantha Camden, Suzannah Bowden, Candi Strong, Ricki Ellison, Jill Johnson, Alejo Cabral; Back Row (from left to right): Chevis Rebstock, Chelsea Dyer, Angie Elliott, Kresta Dundas, Rebecca Saxton, Josh Woods, Molly Brown

Did you know that today is Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day? That's right! While it may not be as popular as Valentines Day or or New Years Eve, we are still equally excited to celebrate! 

As many of you know, the Chamber staff works diligently to meet the needs of our members. Each person is laser focused on executing our mission to provide success for our members, leadership for our community and prosperity for our region. It takes a dedicated team to lead in this capacity and we think we have the best of the best!

To kick off the celebration, we thought today would be the perfect time to introduce (and maybe re-introduce) our amazing Chamber staff. After all, we DO have a lot of new faces around here lately!

We also asked each staff member to answer a few questions about themselves and about why they love the Chamber life, and then we turned their answers into a quiz to test your knowledge. You will find the quiz located below the staff introductions. Be sure to leave us a comment to let us know your score!

As we celebrate today, if you happen to work directly with any of our staff or see them out and about, give them a high five and let them know you appreciate their contributions to the Chamber!

Executive Operations

John Rolfe | President and CEO
Years of Service with the Chamber: 1 month
We are excited to welcome John as our new leader and look forward to his leadership and excitement to help improve our business community! 

Jan Baggett | Executive Assistant 
Years of Service with the Chamber: 14
Jan is our President and CEO's right hand woman and manages many aspects of the Board of Directors activities. Jan also provides essential support to the Wichita Manufacturing Association, an affiliate of the Chamber.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Ricki Ellison | Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Years of Service with the Chamber: 1 month
Ricki is one of our newest employees at the Chamber, joining us just this month! We are excited for the way she will use her background and knowledge to elevate our DEI programs.

Government Relations

Andrew Wiens | Vice President of Government Relations
Years of Service with the Chamber: 2
Andrew is responsible for advocating for pro-business policies at all levels of government on behalf of the businesses in the Wichita region.

Pat Gallagher | Military Affairs Liaison
Years of Service with the Chamber: 38
Pat holds the title of longest tenure at the Chamber and is a tireless community advocate for McConnell Air Force Base. Her career at the Chamber has intersected with every department and she is our resident Chamber historian!

Investor Relations

Jill Johnson | Director of Investor Relations
Years of Service with the Chamber: 4 months
Jill is responsible for meeting the needs of our largest investors and helping to maintain their support through investments in sponsorship, dues and program investments.

Marketing and Communications

Suzannah Bowden | Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Years of Service with the Chamber: 4 months
Suzannah joined the Chamber this summer and hit the ground running helping to promote all of the awesome events and programs that we do. 

Membership & Engagement

Angie Elliott | VP of Engagement & Small Business
Years of Service with the Chamber: 13
Angie provides leadership to our membership engagement team and is specifically working to enhance resources for our small business members.

Kresta Dundas | VP of Membership Development
Years of Service with the Chamber: 9
Kresta is our Chamber membership guru and is one of our biggest cheerleaders! She in responsible for ensuring a steady source of new members through membership sales.

Chelsea Dyer | Director of Engagement
Years of Service with the Chamber: 2
If you have attended any of the Chamber's signature events, you have experienced the abundance of Chelsea's dedicated work! In addition to our six signature events, she oversees an array of networking and educational programs.

Chevis Rebstock | Director of Member Relations
Years of Service with the Chamber: 2
Chevis is one of our members' best advocates and cheerleaders and works hard to make sure each member is getting the most benefits out of their membership. Chevis also oversees our Chamber Champions group.

Rebecca Saxton | Director of Data Operations
Years of Service with the Chamber: 2
Rebecca is the person on staff who keeps everyone organized and makes sure we are serving our members to the best of our ability through accurate membership data.

Samantha Camden | Project Coordinator
Years of Service with the Chamber: 4 months
Samantha is another new face around the Chamber. She joined our staff this summer and has jumped right in to help execute many events! 

Operations

Dale Seiwert | Chief Financial Officer
Years of Service with the Chamber: 1
Dale is responsible for maintaining the Chamber's financial status, among many other duties including building operations and human resources.

Rita Ranney | Director of Accounting
Years of Service with the Chamber: 18
Rita plays a pivotal role in managing the Chambers day-to-day business activities and is our second longest tenured staff member.

Candi Strong | Accounting Clerk/Reception
Years of Service with the Chamber: 1
Candi is our friendly and welcoming face at the Chamber and assists with accounting activities for the organization. 

 W and Talent

Alejo Cabral | Director of W and Talent
Years of Service with the Chamber: 4
If you want to talk about retaining young talent, Alejo is your go-to guy!

Joshua Woods | Program Manager
Years of Service with the Chamber: 6 months
Josh is another new face at the Chamber this year and is already fully involved in all of the W programs and activities. Josh’s primary focus will be launching the Campus Wichita program.

Molly Brown | Program Coordinator
Years of Service with the Chamber: 1 month
Molly has joined W to work directly with volunteers as they coordinate the many offerings of W, which includes leadership development, networking and community involvement programs.

Quiz Time! How well do you know the Chamber staff?

We asked the staff to answer a few questions about themselves and what the enjoy about the Chamber life. Please see their responses below and try to match up the correct answers with the correct staff person. There is an answer key at the bottom of this post to check your guesses. Leave us a comment and let us know how you scored on the quiz!

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
a. I enjoy trying new and various dining locations/cuisines -- anything from fine dining to the out of the ordinary places. 
b. In my spare time you can find me singing karaoke on a Thursday night and my go to song is "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.
c. I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren.
d. If I have free time, I like to put together puzzles.
e. Being outdoors is a favorite way to spend my free time -- lunchtime walks, strolling through Botanica or a weekend hiking trip are all fun!
f.  I love to travel and experience new cities.
g. I enjoy spending time at the lake and going skiing in Colorado.
h. I enjoy hanging out with friends and family at live sporting events or concerts.
i.  I love anything with a good story -- a book, podcast, movie or video game.

What fun fact would you like to share?
a. I never learned to ride a bike.
b. I have visited 48 of the 50 states, but will cross off the last two states (Hawaii and North Dakota) in the next six months.
c. I had a radio show on ABC Radio (now Sirius) at the age of 10.
d. I teach a class on how to bottle feed neonatal kittens for a local animal rescue organization.
e. I was a former collegiate football and baseball player.
f.  I own 32 pairs of prescription eye glasses!
g. I worked at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
h. If you want to brighten my day or make me laugh, I'm a sucker for a good pun!
i.  I once considered myself a cat person and despised dogs, now I have become more of a dog person.

What do you enjoy most about Chamber Life?
a. I am not a social person by nature, but I enjoy the social aspect of working at the Chamber.
b. I love the fast-paced and action-oriented nature of my job.
c. Being on staff at the Chamber feels like the best kind of cool kids group. Getting to interact with so many different individuals, businesses and organizations on a daily basis is something she enjoys most about Chamber life.
d. The thing he most enjoys about Chamber life is assisting companies and seeing them grow, be successful and give back to the community.
e. I enjoy interacting with all of our members and connecting them to resources to help their business. 
f.  I love that I get to work directly with many of the wonderful businesses in Wichita.
g. I love that we can provide access to so many resources for our members and our community.
h. My favorite part of Chamber life is meeting business owners and hearing their stories of how they started their business.
i.  I love promoting the impact that the Chamber makes on this community.
j.  What I enjoy most about the Chamber life is working with a wide range of leadership styles and helping to achieve consensus.
k. My favorite aspect of Chamber life is collaborating with our members and leaders to help businesses in our region succeed and prosper.

Answer Key:

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
a. John Rolfe; b. Suzannah Bowden; c. Rita Ranney; d. Dale Seiwert; e. Samantha Camden; f. Josh Woods; g. Jan Baggett; h. Andrew Wiens; i. Rebecca Saxton

What fun fact would you like to share?
a. Chelsea Dyer; b. Chevis Rebstock; c. Kresta Dundas; d. Candi Strong; e. Dale Seiwert; f. Ricki Ellison; g. Angie Elliott; h. Rebecca Saxton; i. Samantha Camden

What do you enjoy most about Chamber Life?
a. Candi Strong; b. Josh Woods; c. Chelsea Dyer; d. John Rolfe; e. Chevis Rebstock; f. Jan Baggett; g. Ricki Ellison; h. Kresta Dundas; i. Suzannah Bowden; j. Angie Elliott;
k. Andrew Wiens