The Columbia Chamber of Commerce has continued normal operations despite currently searching to fill its president and CEO role.
On Friday, Oct. 31, the resignation of former President and CEO Matt McCormick became official.
Immediately after McCormick verbalized his intent to resign during the chamber’s September board meeting, the Board of Directors voted to put the Succession Plan into action.
According to Caitlin Ferguson, senior director of operations at the Chamber of Commerce, the Succession Plan specifically outlines the transition process should the president and CEO leave the position due to extenuating circumstances.
“It really just gives a roadmap for all of those pieces,” Ferguson said.
The Succession Plan named Lily White Boyd, the former vice president of external affairs, as the interim president and CEO after McCormick announced his resignation.
“Our staff had clarity from the beginning who the point person was,” Boyd said. “And then, in that Succession Plan, it works out how we fill that role.”
Since the president and CEO is the only member of the Chamber of Commerce staff who directly reports to the Board of Directors, the board has been tasked with filling the position.
The Board of Directors began this process by creating a search committee.
“We’re the fourth-largest chamber in the state of Missouri, so we want to make sure whoever fills that role is the right pick,” Boyd said.
The search committee is composed of the three most recent chairs of the Chamber of Commerce — or the chair, chair-elect and past chair — along with four businesses that are chamber members, referred to as members at large.
As outlined in the Succession Plan, the main task of the commissioned search committee is to work with a search firm to conduct CEO searches nationwide.
The official job posting for the president and CEO position was posted in mid-February, and the search committee is currently accepting resumes.
Boyd shared that since she is an internal candidate for the president and CEO position, she has been removed from the entire search process. However, she expects the position to remain vacant until the beginning of summer, at the earliest.
“We don’t expect the position to be filled until early summer,” Boyd said. “And by filled, even, I mean just the name of the CEO … so it could be all the way into late summer before we fully have a CEO.”
The search committee is seeking a community-centered leader who is focused on building a broad coalition of individuals and stretching business partnerships across the Columbia community.
Ferguson, who is heavily involved with the search committee, highlighted the need for the selected candidate to bring growth and development to the chamber.
“We’re at a point where we really need somebody to build out a vision of what the chamber is going to look like 10 or 15 or 20 years from now and write out a new strategic plan,” Ferguson said.
While the Chamber of Commerce has continued normal operations during this transitional stage, Boyd assures that the members remain at the top of the chamber’s priorities.
“Right now, our biggest goal is to make sure we’re addressing all the needs of the businesses still,” Boyd said. “They expect great service from us, and we’re not planning on letting anybody down.”
