The Pauls Valley Chamber of Commerce welcomed new Chamber President Jacob Chapman to the office last week.
Chapman was hired to fill the part-time position as Chamber president in April and began his tenure May 4. He will be handling day-to-day operations for the Chamber of Commerce, maintaining the Chamber’s current office hours of 1-5 p.m. Monday thru Friday.
Chapman, who is originally from Utah, holds a business management degree with an emphasis in entrepreneurship from Brigham Young University.
After living in Arizona and Oklahoma City, Chapman settled in Garvin County about three years ago, purchasing a home and land near Elmore City where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
He said it is a place he hopes to raise his family for generations to come.
“I want to grow deep roots in the community,” Chapman said.
While Chamber president is a new role for Chapman, he said his previous work experience has equipped him with skills he thinks will be helpful to the chamber and its membership including professional networking, leveraging threats into opportunities, and helping small business owners grow their businesses.
Some of that experience, according to Chapman, has come through his own consulting business, started in 2022, in which he works oneon- one with small business owners, coaching them as they fine tune management and accounting skills needed to run their business and set and attain goals to grow their business.
“I know small entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the community, and they need to thrive for the community to grow,” he said.
Chapman said his goals for the Chamber moving forward include growing the membership and providing value to members.
“I want to make sure every existing member and every new member feels valued,” Chapman said. “I don’t want people to wonder what the value of being a chamber member is.”
He said he hopes to create a space where local businesses see their annual membership dues as a “steal of a deal,” for the value they get in return.
He said building relationships within the local business community is a big part of that. “It involves one on one connections and building relationships between businesses. And we’ll figure out how to do that,” Chapman said. “What I don’t want to be is the new guy who comes in with all these big ideas, and no real connection.”
Chapman said he believes having those strong connections and building a network of business owners, creates a safety net of experience and knowledge for local businesses and entrepreneurs, where they can draw on each other’s strengths.
“When you run across a new challenge or have a question, you have those connections you can call up and say, ‘Hey, this is what I’ve got going on. What would you do in this situation?’”
