Dec. 31—Alane Zannotti will be the new Stillwater Chamber of Commerce President and CEO after a two-month search, the Chamber announced on Thursday.
Zannotti is the vice mayor of the Stillwater City Council. She plans to step down from that role at the Jan. 9 meeting to avoid any conflict of interest before her first day at the Chamber on Jan. 16.
Zannotti said she decided a year ago that she would not run for re-election to Seat No. 2.
"I love this community," Zannotti said. "As I'm sitting here thinking about not being on City Council anymore, what is a way to stay connected?"
In her role at Meridian Technology Center, Zannotti worked with many area communities and chambers of commerce. In this new role at the Chamber, she is looking forward to narrowing her focus to Stillwater and utilizing the skills she has honed over the years at MTC.
"This came out of the blue ... with everything I've done at Meridian, I just love the community part," Zannotti said. "I guess I'm just at a time in my life when everything I've done just kind of lead up to this point."
When the previous CEO, Justin Minges, resigned at the end of October, the Chamber's Board of Directors had to step in to keep the organization moving forward while at the same time searching for a replacement. Incoming Board Chair Terri Collier said they couldn't have done it without the hard work put in by Chamber staff.
"When Justin stepped out the door, we weren't quite sure what we were going to do," Collier said. "I just wish I had some way to just describe how fantastic this young group of ladies have been jumping in and doing everything we ask of them, which many times was beyond their job descriptions."
Zannotti will hit the ground running with a staff of six full-time employees and two interns, all of whom she only knows in passing while at Chamber events.
"I think I'm excited to hear what they love about working at the Chamber," Zannotti said. "We kind of get to create this next step and next chapter for the Stillwater Chamber and it has a great foundation."
Collier said Zannotti's diverse experience with community relations, local businesses and city government checked many boxes for the Board.
"We wanted someone who would be a strong leader of not only our staff but would be a good servant of the board of directors," Collier said. "The Chamber CEO needs to be able to speak with people, hear people and figure out what their needs are. Then turn around and figure out how to meet their needs."