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Chamber hires new VPof economic development [The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.](Citizens' Voice, The (Wilkes-Barre, PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 02--Joe Boylan, the former district director and chief of staff for Sen. John Yudichak, has been hired as the new vice president of economic development for the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry. His first day on the job was Wednesday. Wico van Genderen, the chamber's new president and chief executive officer, asked the chamber board to hire Boylan from a pool of five candidates. Boylan will focus on four primary goals: economic development, entrepreneurial development, grant coordination and government affairs. "We are looking at job creation, enhancing quality of life opportunities and sustaining the business model," Boylan said. Boylan wants to take a proactive approach with business members in the region by connecting them to the relationships and programs they need to grow. He also would like to see a collaborative approach to attract businesses. "We need to attract the businesses and industry that match our skill sets," he said. "One quality of the workforce in this area is a strong work ethic. We do have unique skill sets. Now, it is our job to work with other chambers and other regional entities to find the business and industry out there to match that skill set." Van Genderen said hiring Boylan is the first step to rebuilding the team at the chamber, an organization which represents about 1,000 businesses and focuses on helping them grow and succeed. Over the last seven years, the chamber has trimmed its payroll from 25 full-time employees to five full-timers and 11 part-timers. Now, the chamber has 10 full-time employees, a property management staff of five, and interns, van Genderen said. Van Genderen said he hopes Boylan's hiring is one of many announcements to come about filling job positions at the chamber as he starts to financially stabilize the organization and focuses on driving business advocacy. He also would like to hire more people in the future who could leverage technology like social media and web design. He said Boylan is a "perfect fit" for his job as vice president of economic development. "I think we're going to make a really good team and he's going to make a really good addition to the chamber to help us really start to drive economic development," van Genderen said. Boylan, 36, was most recently the director of government services for Ashburn Advisors, which connects businesses, developers, municipal governments and non-profit institutions to financing options available in the marketplace. He served as district director for Yudichak from 2010-2012 and as his chief of staff when he was a state representative, from 2008-2010. Prior to that, he was a research analyst for the Joint Urban Studies Center at Wilkes University from 2003-2008. Boylan is a graduate of Wyoming Valley West High School and Penn State University, where he earned a degree in business. He resides in West Pittston with his wife, Jodi, and daughter, Madeline. [email protected], 570-821-2115 ___ (c)2014 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) Visit The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at citizensvoice.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |