(Source: Waco Chamber of Commerce)

James G. Vaughan Jr., President and CEO of the Greater Waco Chamber, announced today his plans to retire on June 30, 2012 or as soon thereafter as his successor is named.

Vaughan, 68, told the Chamber's Board of Directors that May 1 will mark eight years as president and CEO of the Greater Waco Chamber and 42 years as a chamber professional and consultant to local chambers.

"The approaching reality of these milestones has led my wife, Patty, and me to reflect on my career and our future and we have decided that it is time to retire from active Chamber work," Vaughan said.

Board Chair Stewart Kelly said that Vaughan's work with the Chamber has been marked with an energy that has set in motion progressive goals for both the organization and the community.

"Jim has had a tremendous impact on our Chamber as well as the Greater Waco community. In what most people would consider a short amount of time, Jim was able to bring all of his prior chamber experiences and share them with the Waco Chamber," said Kelly. "In doing so, he assembled a tremendous staff. Together, under Jim's leadership, the Chamber staff and a broad base of Chamber volunteers have grown the Chamber into an exciting and vibrant organization that sets the foundation for future growth."

Kelly said the Chamber has formed a search committee to begin a nationwide search for a new president and CEO of the Chamber.

Chamber Chair-Elect Ed Page echoes Kelly's sentiments.

"Jim has been a visionary leader that helped us work together to accomplish what we all wanted to do, which is to make Waco a better community," said Page. "Jim has done this by helping us reshape what others thought about Waco and he did that first by getting all of us who live here to start thinking differently about ourselves."
Scott Felton, the Chamber's vice chair and treasurer, said Vaughan has been a good fit for the Greater Waco Chamber and has enhanced the organization's role in spurring development.

"Chambers don't necessarily make communities better, and chamber presidents don't necessarily make a chamber better, but ours does," said Felton. "Through Jim Vaughan's leadership, the Chamber has provided outstanding support and leadership to the economic and community development in McLennan County."

Immediate Past Chair Don Moes said the accomplishments during Vaughan's tenure are outstanding and will leave a lasting footprint on the future of the community.

"Jim has done as much or more for Waco than anyone I know," said Moes.

Vaughan said constructing Waco's "first green chamber building in America" has been one of the most visible accomplishments of his time at the Chamber, but he listed many other successes by the Chamber, its volunteer leadership, staff and public and private sector partners, including:

• Attracting 20 new companies and 40 expansions by existing firms; 5,314 new jobs, 3,190 jobs retained and $740 million capital invested in projects assisted by the Chamber's economic development staff.

• Developing and implementing a master plan for the Waco Industrial Foundation business parks including $6.8 million invested in new infrastructure and $6 million to acquire additional property to accommodate development.

• Making urban development a Chamber and community priority; projecting a billion dollar decade downtown; defining Greater Downtown and making the case for a 40-year plan and 100,000 people living and working downtown; and advocating for smart growth and sustainable development.

• Advocating for official standing in the permitting process for coal-fired electric generating plants in Greater Waco that contributed to TXU's decision not to build the plants.

• Establishing the Community Development division to engage members and staff in education, workforce and a range of quality of life initiatives.

• Matching 40 business mentors with 115 Waco Independent School District students during five years, and all of the seniors in this program have graduated and gone to college.

• Reviving the One Book One Waco community-wide reading program and supporting a variety of efforts to reduce poverty and hunger here.

• Growing the sports luncheon series to average 1,100 in attendance at each event; starting the TriWaco triathlon which attracted more than 900 runners in 2011; and increasing participation in the Starburst Junior Golf Classic to 1000 boys and girls annually on nine courses.

• Starting a quarterly magazine, weekly electronic newsletter, monthly television program and eight websites to promote Chamber programs and to help change perceptions about Greater Waco.

• Increasing the Chamber's annual budget from $1.5 million in 2004 to $3.3 million in 2012; enlarging the organization's professional staff from 13 to 21; and raising $5.9 million for annual operations in seven all-volunteer Total Resource Campaigns.

The Chamber building was the first in Waco designed and constructed to meet the standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the U.S. Green Building Council. In addition to LEED-Gold certification, the Chamber has received 12 national and state awards and designations for the building.

"The Chamber building became a reality because of Campaign Chair Tom Salome and Building Committee Chair Bob Davis," Vaughan said. "Together we raised $7.4 million to construct the building and to implement the Chamber's first five-year strategic plan for economic and community development."

Looking forward, Vaughan said the decision by Chamber leaders to create and fund implementation of two five-year strategic plans for economic and community development may have been the biggest and most important change for the Chamber since 2004.

Nine business executives served as chief volunteer officer of the Chamber during Vaughan's years as CEO- Jim Haller, Kent Keahey, Bob Davis, David Lacy, Rick Brophy, Roland Goertz, Terry Stevens, Don Moes and Stewart Kelly.

"I am indebted to each of these outstanding leaders and to the other members of the 2012 Executive Committee-Ed Page, Scott Felton and Mike Reitmeier-and to the board of directors, committees, task forces and the Chamber's membership for their support of me as president," Vaughan said.

"I appreciate the good relationship we have enjoyed with our economic development partners: the Waco Industrial Foundation led during my tenure by presidents Louie Englander, Monte Hulse, Tom Salome, Stanley Strum and Bob Davis; and the Waco McLennan County Economic Development Corporation led by County Judge Jim Lewis, City Manager Larry Groth and private sector representative Bill Clifton."

"I am also grateful for the dedication, energy and can-do spirit of our professional staff-both past and present-and especially Executive Vice President Linda Beasley and Senior Vice Presidents Sarah Roberts and Ken Hampton," Vaughan said. "Our staff is as dedicated and talented as any I have worked with in all my years in the chamber business."

"Working together-volunteers and staff and with our many public and private sector partners-we have moved Greater Waco forward with new and bigger goals and higher expectations for the future, which I have always believed was the primary puof the local chamber of commerce," Vaughan said.

“From my predecessor, Jack Stewart, I inherited a good and financially sound Chamber," Vaughan said.

"On that foundation we have built an even stronger and better-funded organization that is recognized throughout the region for getting results." He concluded, "It is my hope and expectation that my successor will take our Chamber to even greater levels of success."

In retirement, Vaughan said he plans to work as a consultant part time in the areas of his greatest interest-strategic planning, sustainable development and fund raising.