The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday picked its first female CEO in its 130-year history, hiring the president of an award-winning chamber in Evansville, Ind., to serve as the top staffer for the Chattanooga business group.
Christy Gillenwater, the president and CEO of the Southwest Indiana Chamber of Commerce since 2013, will succeed the retiring Bill Kilbride as CEO of the Chattanooga Chamber in December.
Gillenwater has worked in a variety of Indiana chambers for the past 21 years, including eight years as CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. During her terms as president at both Evansville and Bloomington, those chambers were each awarded the coveted national "Chamber of the Year" in their categories.
During her most recent work in Evansville, Mrs. Gillenwater boosted membership, led efforts in diversity and inclusion initiatives, and launched new efforts in workforce readiness and the development of that city's downtown. She has been engaged in nearly $6 billion in economic development projects in Southwest Indiana.
Christy Gillenwater"Our Transition Committee is very pleased with the selection of Christy, and our board is confident she will guide our chamber and our business community to the next levels of accomplishment in bringing Chattanooga, Hamilton County and this region to new leading roles in the Southeast," said Larry Buie, chairman of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. "Our Chamber has made great strides in the last years in the area of workforce readiness, Chattanooga 2.0, diversity, and business growth. Building on those accomplishments while adding focus to new priorities will be a great task for our staff and our member leadership."
Gillenwater is a graduate of Indiana University and earned her MBA at Ball State University. She has worked as a professional chamber executive her entire career.
The past three presidents of the Chattanooga Chamber - Bill Kilbride, Ron Harr and Tom Ed Wilson - were Chattanooga business executives who took on the top Chamber of Commerce job following their careers with local companies and volunteer service to the Chamber.
Kilbride, a former Mohawk Industries executive who has headed the Chattanooga Chamber for the past three years, plans to retire at the end of the year. According to IRS filings for the nonprofit group in fiscal 2015 - the most recent year for which full figures are available - Kilgore was paid $222,755 in compensation from both the Chattanooga Chamber and its affiliated Chamber Foundation. The chamber has an annual budget from business members, local governments and service fees of more than $5.5 million.
Gillenwater serves on the board of directors of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "Committee of 100." She is a member of the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy Advisory Council and the Indiana INTERNnet Board of Directors. She was selected nationally for the Education Attainment's Division Fellowship for Workforce Initiatives and was named the 2017 Indiana Chamber Executive of the Year.
Gillenwater and her family are current residents of Evansville and will be moving to the Chattanooga area by the end of the year.