Dean accepts new position after 13 years as president

As the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce searches for former president and CEO Harold Dean's replacement, many community officials view the leadership change as an opportunity to expand the organization's relationship with the city.

Dean finished his 13-year tenure as president and CEO on May 15. The search to find Dean's replacement is well under way by a committee chaired by chamber board member Linda Haywood.

The Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce for years served as the city's economic development liaison, but that responsibility now falls on the Cedar Park Economic Development Department and subsequent economic development boards. Since 1999, the city has been allowed to use sales tax revenue to help attract several large businesses and venues.

Upon finding a replacement for Dean, many members would like to see the chamber once again assist with economic development efforts.

Stacy Rudd, immediate past board chairman for the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce, said he expects a candidate to come in and immediately engage the organization's 700-plus businesses and explore new partnership opportunities with the city.

"I think (the relationship has) been getting better over the past few years," Rudd said. "There was some frustration and just some things the chamber and city didn't see eye to eye on way before I even became a member (in 2003)."

Several Cedar Park councilmen have reached out to the chamber in recent years to increase communication between the two groups, Rudd said. In particular, he credited former councilman and Mayor-elect Matt Powell, Councilman Mitch Fuller and Councilman Tony Dale.

Fuller agrees there was once a tense relationship between the groups, but he said there is no reason to let personalities and egos get in the way of improving the city's business community.

"I think we're getting past the past, because frankly I don't care what happened before," Fuller said. "It's really not the same people on either side. The chamber is the most important partner the city has for economic development in Cedar Park."

In many ways, that partnership is already thriving. Phil Brewer, Cedar Park director of economic development, often has chamber businesses pitch the city to potential new employers. The chamber also was instrumental in developing the Cedar Park Regional Medical Center, Brewer said.

"There are a lot of things we can work together on," he said. "Some things they do better on, some things we do better—and that's the way it should be."

Brewer also agrees there are ways to expand the relationship between his department and the chamber. While Brewer primarily focuses on adding new jobs in Cedar Park, the chamber typically works more on bringing existing members of the business community together, he said.

That dynamic has worked well, said Phil Duprey, Cedar Park Foundation vice president and former city councilman. Brewer has been nothing short of a "superstar" for Cedar Park by bringing in major employers, Duprey said, and he expects the chamber's next leader to also play a crucial role in future development efforts.

"New leadership will bring new ideas," Duprey said. "I imagine the new president is going to come with tweaks to existing programs or new ideas we don't even know yet."

He suggests top leaders from city and chamber staffs take trips together to recruit out-of-state businesses.

"A lot of engineers and programmers live in Cedar Park but don't work in Cedar Park," Duprey said. "Let's get businesses where the talent is. That's the next goal—get people living here to stay here."

Back in Cedar Park, Powell recommends getting chamber members more involved in city functions by attending each others' events and coordinating on state and federal legislative issues. He also plans to push for an informal report from chamber leadership on the state of the city's business environment.

"I intend to utilize chamber membership to help understand what is working and what is not by seeing an occasional snapshot of how businesses are doing," Powell said.

The new chamber CEO will also be crucial in getting businesses involved in the new comprehensive plan, Fuller said. By gaining input from the existing business community, the plan will help create a more business-friendly vision for the city's future, he said.

"The chamber will be a huge partner in that, and that's why we've got to make that relationship even stronger," he said. "We're not the ones taking the entrepreneurial risk. It's the government's role to set conditions for success and ensure business can succeed and thrive."

While the role of economic development may have migrated into City Hall over the years, Brewer said he looks forward to working with the chamber's next ambassador to the business community to help attract new companies and retain existing employers.

"A strong chamber is a good indicator of a great community to do business," he said. "Whoever the new executive is, probably one of the first people they'll hear from is going to be me."