Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce announced Monday that Amanda Livingston will serve as its new executive director.
Allen Lawrence, the 1st vice chair of the chamber committee that selected Livingston, said, “We felt Ms. Livingston has the qualities and skills necessary for our members’ growth and programming service.”
Livingston, a Roanoke County resident, most recently worked in real estate, holding licenses in Virginia and South Carolina. While in South Carolina, she was a real estate salesperson for a development company. Prior to her work in real estate, she worked at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, Inc. for 21 years. Her title at the time of her departure was that of division vice president.
She received an undergraduate degree in speech and communications from the University of Rhode Island.
“Livingston has so much positivity and energy around the building and engaging the business community,” Lawrence and Ashley King, the chamber’s 2022 board chair, said in a statement. “She has the qualities and characteristics to take our organization to the next level. We are excited for her to begin.”
Livingston is married to Ken Delp. They have a blended family, with two grown children and three children who live at home.
The chamber’s search for a new executive director yielded 83 applications. The chamber said it looked for applicants who matched its strategic direction and the qualities it deemed as being important. King said, “The process was extensive because we wanted to get this right for our members and our organization.”
Lawrence added, “The Board of Directors is the organization’s policy-making arm and represents the members’ interests. The Executive Director works for this board to manage and execute the organization’s strategic plan, goals, and objectives.”
The chamber said it has also contracted Cathi Hight, a consultant for chambers of commerce, to assist it in creating a strategic plan to better position it to serve the community.
