After 16 years with Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of Membership Development Dianne Callahan has retired.
Callahan said over the years she has seen a lot of growth in the community and inside the chamber. Callahan said one of the accomplishments she is most proud of is reaching a long time goal of 1,000 members.
“When you reach a big goal like that, you will lose some members, of course you always are losing members, but you always have to be adding members,” Callahan said. “That day that we reached that, for this size of a community was a big accomplishment.”
Callahan said receiving accreditation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is another goal she will remember accomplishing. She said the Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber is the only accredited Middle Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.
“We ended up successfully being accredited at a four star, which the ratings are three, four and five stars,” Callahan said. “We are the only Middle Tennessee chamber that is accredited, and out of the 1,000’s of chambers across the United States, there’s only less than 300 chambers that are accredited.”
Despite not working in economic development, Callahan said the biggest change she saw is the number of jobs added to the community. She said there are multiple entities responsible for that growth.
“With the city, the county, the chamber, the state, all working together to bring jobs,” Callahan said. “I wasn’t in economic development, but as a chamber, we grew from when I came 16 years ago. There was three of four employees and now there’s probably 15, because we have tourism development, work force development, economic development, and of course we manage the Leslie Town Centre.”
Callahan said during retirement she is looking to become more involved in the local community. She said she wants to enjoy her time in Putnam County, and help non-profits.
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