Maitland Chamber appoints new executive director

For the first time in four years the Maitland Area Chamber of Commerce has someone manning the helm as executive director.

This week the Chamber's board of directors promoted Jeff Aames to the position. Aames has worked for the Chamber as an administrator for nearly three years. He is the first executive director named by the Chamber since Maria Simmons left the position in 2012.

The news of his promotion came a day after it was announced that the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce's own leader, Patrick Chapin, was stepping down from his post as president and CEO.

Aames said he's excited to continue his work with the Maitland Chamber, as the organization looks to rebuild its membership and restructure its programming.

“I'm really striving to get back to the old days of chambers of commerce when they were really about supporting the local businesses and the community,” Aames said.

Earlier this year, the Chamber announced that it would cancel its annual Spring Festival of the Arts. Since then, they've also decided cancel the Taste of Maitland, which has traditionally been held annually in October. Aames said the Chamber has decided to focus on more frequent smaller events rather than a few large-scale ones.

“That way we can reach out to more people and get more of our membership and community involved,” he said.

Those events include monthly luncheons and member mingle sessions. And in June, Aames said, the Chamber will branch out hosting a fundraising rummage sale and a supply drive for local elementary schools.

By placing an increased focus on getting the Chamber more active in the local level of the community, Aames said he hopes the new exposure will help regrow the Chamber's membership. He said membership right now sits at roughly 170 members, up from 120 at a low point after the recession and down from the high point of nearly 300 prior to the economic downturn.

“I'm really excited that we've gone up [in membership numbers],” Aames said. “I'm excited because we're getting a lot more members coming through the door, and they're getting involved.”

And, he said, the more members get involved, the better off the Chamber will be to provide for both local businesses and the community.