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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Santa Clarita Valley Chamber moves to more centralized site

The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce is working on familiarizing its members with its recent changes – a move into a new building and the hiring of a new president and CEO. In mid-March, the chamber changed its home from an office in an industrial business area on Avenue Stanford to an office located on Tourney Road, said Chamber President and CEO Ed Masterson. “The location where we used to be was just kind of removed,” Masterson said. “The primary objective of moving us here was to locate us back to … what we felt was a closer proximity to the center of town.” Masterson said the chamber is now more accessible and is surrounded by more traditional office-space businesses, such as an accounting firm, a retail center and a bank. Downsizing Dana Cop, the chamber’s board chair-elect who served on the board committee that planned the move, said the new building’s space and structure also added to its appeal. “We just had too much space at our (previous) location,” she said. “We had gotten to the point where we just wanted to downsize.” While the new building is smaller in size, it has a larger board meeting room, two additional rooms for holding other meetings – as opposed to one at the old location – and a more welcoming lobby area, Cop said. “We have a much more defined reception area,” she said. “We have a much more professional appearance.” The board’s committee chose the new space from a pool of about five potential locations, she added. The chamber has advertised its new location and is hosting an open house event on June 10 for its members to tour the site. Another adjustment for members is Masterson’s new role as president and CEO, a post he started on May 3. Former chairman Masterson, who formerly worked as a field representative for State Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, replaced former President and CEO Larry Mankin, who recently retired after serving the chamber for seven years. Masterson served as the chamber’s board chairman in 2005. He said he plans to help people learn about the leadership change by being active in the community. “I just want to be out there and as visible as possible in our community and (to) support our local businesses and our nonprofit organizations,” Masterson said. As for leading the organization, he added that he already has a good setup to work with. “Things were really good anyway, so all I’m trying to do is continue the momentum that was established,” Masterson said. The new chamber is located in Santa Clarita at 27451 Tourney Road in Suite 160.

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