By Annabeth Miller, SMT Editor
A record crowd attended Thursday’s Dexter Chamber of Commerce Full Membership meeting and learned of some of the accomplishments during the last year.
Chamber President Ed Gargas presided at the final meeting of the year, with 90 chamber members participating. The meeting had the largest turnout ever for a December meeting.
He noted that in the last year the chamber has hosted more than 20 Ribbon Cutting Celebrations, had 31 new members and 11 new businesses in the Dexter community.
One of those new chamber members, Gargas noted, was the new Three Rivers Center in Dexter which opened for its first semester in January. College officials anticipate an enrollment for the spring smester of more than 250 in the new center and 400 students for the fall 2012 semester.
“In a year to grow for 400 students and that’s just tremendous,” Gargas said. He noted that many of those students will becoming to Dexter for classes. “While they are here between classes hopefully they are stopping by your restaurant, your gift shop, your gas station and investing some of their dollars into our great community.”
New directors joining the board of directors on Jan. 1 will be Erin Brown, Bobby Greer and Jackie McKuin. They will be replacing retiring members Gargas, Scott Chesser and Kevin Bishop.
The Leadership Dexter 2012 class was announced at the Full Membership meeting. Leadership Dexter is a leader development program sponsored by the Chamber for emerging leaders in the community. Leadership Dexter is a proactive leadership development program in the Dexter community and sponsored by the Chamber. The year-long program includes a series of forums, seminars, and field trips that have been custom designed to explore the many challenges and opportunities facing the community leaders of tomorrow.
Members selected for Leadership Dexter in 2012 include -
- Rachel Bullard, Regions Bank
- Sarah Gibson, Mongomery Bank
- Chris Guethle, First Medwest Bank
- Aaron Mathis, Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home
- Andrew Stuever, Southern Bank
- Brett Miller, First State Bank and Trust
- Josh Miller, Missouri Southern Healthcare
- Matthew Ternes, Heartland Food Management (dba) Pizza Hut)
- Kristin Zeman, First National Bank
In other business, Coleman announced that the Chamber will host the Business After Hours event for December on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at the Chamber of Commerce offices on Market Street. The drop-in event will be held from 5 – 6:30 p.m.
In addition, the Chamber Annual Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012.
Photo Above: The members of the 2012 Dexter Leadership Class were announced at Thursday's Dexter Chamber of Commerce Full Membership meeting. Attending the luncheon were class members (from left) Andrew Stuever, Chris Guethle, Matt Ternes, Kristin Zeman, Josh Miller, Brett Miller. (SMT Photo By Annabeth Miller)
