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Chamber CEO takes new job

Posted 6/4/19

Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce executive Scott Soldat-Valenzuela assumed a new position May 13 with the Windsor, Colo., Chamber of Commerce.

The Windsor Chamber posted on its website May 15 …

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Chamber CEO takes new job

Posted

Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce executive Scott Soldat-Valenzuela assumed a new position May 13 with the Windsor, Colo., Chamber of Commerce.

The Windsor Chamber posted on its website May 15 that Soldat-Valenzuela had been hired as president and CEO as of May 13.

Soldat-Valenzuela described his position as consultant “until my role at the Fountain Hills Chamber is complete.” He replied by email to an inquiry about his employment at both chambers.

Windsor is a community of about 24,000 residents in northern Colorado, about 60 miles north of Denver, the state capitol.

The Windsor Chamber has been without staff leadership for several months after the unexpected passing of its former executive director and 17-year Chamber veteran, Michal Connors.

No notice of Soldat-Valenzuela’s new position has been released by the local Chamber. Soldat-Valenzuela submitted his resignation April 10. At that time, he said he would remain on the job until late August.

He is married to Jeffrey Soldat-Valenzuela and they have four children. Jeffrey is the Wells Fargo vice-president and district manager for the Platte River area, according to the Windsor Chamber. The family relocated to Colorado in April.

The Windsor Chamber’s May 15 announcement said Soldat-Valenzuela would start “connecting with Chamber members and various other community members.”

The local Chamber staff has explained Soldat-Valenzuela’s absence as “working remotely” from Colorado.

Reached Monday morning at the Chamber Windsor office, Soldat-Valenzuela also stated, “The Fountain Hills Chamber Board has been pleased with the progress in all of our endeavors.

“One of our biggest accomplishments was the addition of Betsy LaVoie, Member Relations Manager, who has worked closely with the business community and helped 37 new businesses join the Chamber since starting in February.”

Eleven new members came on board in May. An orientation is planned to “assist them in getting up to speed in their new roles,” said Soldat-Valenzuela.

As recently as May 29, Soldat-Valenzuela was asked to explain the process to find a successor.

In an email, he responded that the local and nationwide search process for a new CEO is “moving along” and “the results are very promising.”

“We have received many highly qualified applications from within Fountain Hills and across the United States,” he said.

“We are targeting the new person to be in their role in early August.”

He did not indicate the number of received applications or the process of vetting the CEO candidates.

On Monday, Soldat-Valenzuela said “our building expansion is moving along well and we expect to have an announcement soon.”

Two separate committees are working on both the Chamber’s CEO search and remodel/expansion of the current building. The committee members were not named.

Before coming to Fountain Hills in October 2014, Soldat-Valenzuela was president/CEO of the Peoria Chamber.

In what is referred to as “Scott’s Blog” on the Windsor Chamber website, he wrote “while leading the Chamber, the organization had grown from three to six signature events. Each was designed to engage the business community through networking, marketing and even some fun.

“From hosting the Mayor’s state of the city address to kicking-off baseball with the dinner on the diamond to starting the first regional business education conference and expo.”

Windsor Chamber chair Mary Gabriel wrote on the blog that “Scott has a clear ability to transform a Chamber into a transparent, innovative and forward-thinking organization.”