The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce hired within for its senior vice president of economic development role that had been vacant since late last year.
Charissa Bodisch has filled the role on an interim basis since Dave Porter "decided to move on" from the Austin chamber after 10 years in early December. Bodisch upgrades roles after serving as the chamber's vice president of economic development since 2006.
"I look forward to working with our partners to ensure the Austin region continues to provide a broad range of economic development opportunities and remains a unique and desirable place for businesses and families to prosper," Bodisch said in a statement from the chamber.
She was selected to permanently replace Porter after a national search process, said Mike Rollins, Austin chamber president, in a statement.
"It was clear [Bodisch] had the right skillset to lead our economy team to even greater success," Rollins said.
Rollins also complimented the vast amount of institutional knowledge and regional experience Bodisch has gained the past nine years.
"During this time, she has established great working relationships with businesses and leaders throughout our community," Rollins said.
In her new role, Bodisch will be responsible for managing various ongoing chamber initiatives, such as the Opportunity Austin 3.0 program, which since 2004 has added 263,400 new jobs and increased payroll in the greater Austin region by $13.9 billion, according to the chamber.
Joe Lanane’s career is rooted in community journalism, having worked for a variety of Midwest-area publications before landing south of the Mason-Dixon line in 2011 as the Stillwater News-Press news editor. He arrived at Community Impact Newspaper in 2012, gaining experience as editor of the company’s second-oldest publication in Leander/Cedar Park. He eventually became Central Austin editor, covering City Hall and the urban core of the city.
Lanane leveraged that experience to become Austin managing editor in 2016. He managed eight Central Texas editions from Georgetown to San Marcos. Working from company headquarters, Lanane also became heavily involved in enacting corporate-wide editorial improvements. In 2017, Lanane was promoted to executive editor, overseeing editorial operations throughout the company. The Illinois native received his bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University and his journalism master’s degree from Ball State University.
