Happy New Year from the Fort Collins Area Chamber to all of our business partners! As an organization, we are excited to kick off 2021 and, as an individual, I am thrilled to be taking on the role of President & CEO at the Fort Collins Area Chamber.
My name is Ann Hutchison and I took on the reigns at the Chamber on January 1. I am happy to say that many of you reading this blog already know me. For those that I haven’t met yet, I look forward to connecting with you soon.
A little background on me:
- I am a Fort Collins native (Poudre Valley Hospital hallway baby) that grew up on the eastern plains of Colorado. Brush is my hometown and I am a proud Beetdigger.
- I received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley with a double major in Speech Communications and Journalism and Mass Communications.
- After graduation, I landed in southwest Kansas and worked for Kansas State University as a 4-H Youth Agent in Finney County. Much of my time in that role was working as a teacher without a classroom, helping youth and their families learn, grow and become community leaders. For my colleagues with a 4-H or agricultural background – we will have to swap stories. I credit my experiences in southwest Kansas with helping to create much of the person I am today—hard working, pragmatic and very optimistic that we can make a difference. And I’m very happy to wear boots, push cattle and get dirty!
- Before coming home to Colorado, I worked at Lewis, Hooper & Dick, LLC, a regional accounting firm in Garden City, Kansas. I was their first Marketing Coordinator and had the tremendous opportunity to work with the more than 35 employees and owners of the firm to create business opportunities.
- And then I came home to Colorado in February of 2003. I was hired by interim CEO Bob Vinton to join the Chamber as the Policy Committee Coordinator at the Chamber. In that role I worked directly with our Local Legislative Affairs Committee, our Environmental Committee, the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and the Leadership Fort Collins program. As well, as all of our Chamber staff does, I was on call to take on whatever other project needed to be done. In 2005 I was promoted to Executive Vice President and my umbrella of duties was expanded to include Signature Events, Communications, Advocacy, Talent, Business Retention and Expansion, Leadership Northern Colorado and more. Since the pandemic, in addition to the daily expectations of the Chamber, I’ve been working side by side with our economic development and business support partners to assist business in reacting to and then responding to and recovering from COVID-19.
I am honored and humbled by the Board of Director’s decision to select me to be your new President & CEO. With almost 18 years under my belt at this Chamber and as a part of this business community, I can promise you–our business community–that I am here to be your advocate and to leverage resources to help you continue to be an important and vital part of our community. The current vision of the Chamber is to be a vibrant and effective business champion, creating inclusive opportunities for our community. I plan to capitalize on the amazing foundation that has been built by our business leaders and to provide a stable, yet energized force to connect business to the larger community. You will continue to see great things from your Chamber of Commerce and I’m looking forward to connecting with you!