Jed Metzger reflects on 25 years at the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce.
Jed Metzger is retiring as President/CEO of the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce on December 31. At Monday's meeting, he shared stories with us from his 25 year leading the Chamber. Jed told us that shortly after taking the job, he discovered he was coordinating two big events: Allen County's millennium celebration and the Governor Kasich's State of the State speech at the Civic Center, both on short notice and with no budget. But he said that the community came together, raised the necessary funds and volunteered their time to make both events a success. He says that his biggest challenge was finding a new home for the Chamber when the lease on their old building expired. After exploring other locations, the Rudolph family helped the Chamber renovate the Schnorf and Wagner buildings, turning them into the Chamber's current offices at Main & Spring. Jed is also proud that during his tenure, the Chamber started an annual mult-cultural celebration, gathered the community for a solar eclipse party, started both Women in Business and Men in Business programs, hand created the Chamber Awards Gala to honor Allen County's business leaders. Jed introduced his replacement, Josh Unterbrink, Co-Director of Activate Allen County, who is working with Jed for several weeks to make for a smooth transition. We wish you all the best in your retirement, Jed. Thank you for being a vital part of our community for 25 years!
Also at Monday's meeting, we inducted Brendan Ervin, District Executive from Scouting America as our newest member.
Mike Swick presented the proceeds from the Spring Blood Clinic to Berlin Carroll, President of the Lima Rotary Foundation, in the amount of $2,821.60.
And Keith Horner drew the winning tickets from those who contributed to our PolioPlus campaign. Congratulations to Lynn Carpenter, Mike Leidy, JJ Truman and Rhonda Lehman who were our big winners. Keith also announced that we have surpassed our PolioPlus goal of $3,000. Thank you to everyone for your generosity!
