Chamber begins interviews for new executive director

A Jackson Chamber of Commerce search committee has begun interviewing applicants for the executive director position.

The chamber received 16 resumes and interviewed four of the applicants on Wednesday.

"I think the process is working well," said Dr. Ron Anderson, the chairman for the chamber board of directors. "We had some good interviews."

Anderson said the five-member hiring committee has not pinned down a target date as to when they want to find a replacement for Ken Parrett, who will leave at the end of March to take the executive director position at Poplar Bluff's Chamber of Commerce.

"We want to move right along but we want to make sure we dot our i's and cross our t's so we're not locking ourselves in on a date," he said.

Anderson, who is also the Jackson school superintendent, said the chamber wouldn't release names of the applicants, but said roughly half of the applicants are local.

The hiring committee will likely conduct more interviews in a few days, Anderson said.

The current director, Ken Parrett, announced his resignation in late November last year and said he'd stay until the end of March to help with the transition period.

Parrett is moving because his wife, Judy, accepted a promotion as a regional administrator with the Missouri Division of Youth Services at Poplar Bluff. Originally, Parrett said he was going to start his own management services business. Instead, he has accepted the executive director position at Poplar Bluff's chamber of commerce.

"I was committed to that until this position presented itself," Parrett said. "I love what I do and this gives me a chance to keep doing it."

Parrett has headed the chamber for six years since moving here from Rolla, Mo., following a career in the military.

When he accepted the position in 1998, the chamber had 159 members. There are 440 members today.

Parrett's first day as Poplar Bluff's chamber director will be on April 4.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635