This year we bring in new leadership at the chamber.  Lee Coggin, President of Baker College will be the chair of the chamber board.  We welcome Andy Price, Owner of McKenzie-Price Agency as Vice Chair, Tom Schultz, Vice President of Tyler Sales as secretary, and Randy Filbrandt, Owner of H&S Companies as our treasurer.  Randy is new to the board along with Shawn Buckner, Northern Region Group Vice President at Meijer Corporation and Dave Hazekamp, President of Hazekamp’s Premier Foods.

We must bid farewell to our outstanding chairman, Larry Hines, Owner of Hines Corporation. We are also losing board members Rex Vanderlinde, former owner of Executive Air, Tom Godfrey, formerly of Fifth Third Bank, Bill Vanderweele, Owner of Weber Lumber, and Brenda Jacobs, Partner at Brickley DeLong, PC.   All of these individuals have contributed to our success as a chamber helping us win recognition at the state and national levels.  We will miss them.  Please take time to thank them for their contributions to your organization.

11 high school students have recently become Muskegon STAR! certified. A group of students at Orchard View High School became STAR! Students as part of Deb Schultz' "Career Club" that meets after regular school hours.

These students are obtaining a better understanding of the community's resources, leaders and assets through classroom study, projects, guest speakers and field trips. Deb Schultz is also teaching them soft skills and good habits to help them become more successful in college or the workforce.

The MAISD is working with the Chamber to revamp the curriculum into five one-hour sessions with script for the instructors. This will make the STAR! Student Program more accessible for other area schools. To date, over 680 area residents have been certified as Muskegon STARS!