Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce charts new course with leadership change

Nonprofit organization to launch search for new executive director

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
February 7, 2025

The Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce will search for a new director, following the Jan. 27 departure of Melinda Hester. Photo by Fred McCormick

A change of leadership at the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce will accompany a new vision, as the nonprofit organization announced, Jan. 27, the departure of executive director Melinda Hester, who was hired to fill the position in January of 2024. 

The move comes as the chamber’s board pursues a renewed focus on community support and engagement. 

“We’re grateful for Melinda’s leadership and initiatives she helped drive during her time with us,” board president Ken Floyd said. “We wish her all the best.”

As the nonprofit’s governing body begins its search for a new director for the second time since August of 2023, the process will be informed by feedback from the more than 200 members of the chamber, according to treasurer Sara McGee, in her second year with the organization.

“As a board, we have increased our numbers this year, and after listening to feedback from our members we have identified areas for improvement,” McGee said. “One area we want to address is placing a bigger emphasis on and supporting Swannanoa, and another is finding ways to create more consistent touch points with our members.”

The current board, led by Floyd, vice president Kannah Leigh Begley Walker, McGee and secretary Matthew Daughtry-Grubbs, is prioritizing an enhanced presence among local businesses.

“That’s the biggest thing for the chamber, going forward,” Floyd said. “I think a piece that has been missing for a while now is getting out into the community, sitting down, talking to local businesses and figuring out how to best support each of them. We’re going to bring that back.”

Founded in 1923, the chamber moved into the Visitor Center, formerly the McGraw Coffee House, 60 years later. While the location greets tens of thousands of guests every year, the organization will be searching for its fourth director since 2019.

“We've gotten clearer on our vision of how we can serve and support our community,” McGee said. “That’s going to better inform our process as we search for a new director.”

The goal, according to Floyd, is to find a candidate that will remain in the position for “a long time.”

“We don’t have a timeline for that process, but we’re going to discuss it at our upcoming board meeting,” he said. “But, our focus right now is Black Mountain and Swannanoa, and how to make sure they are taken care of.”

The chamber will rely on a “great team and great volunteers” to advance initiatives while seeking a director.

“We will continue supporting our businesses in any way we can, and remaining consistent with our member outreach, through our ambassador committee,” Floyd said. “We have already added new committees that we didn’t have in the past, and that will help us succeed in what we’re trying to do. The most important thing for us is supporting our small business community and economic development for the entire Swannanoa Valley.”