Steven Chavira, Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce directorPhoto and article by Mary Alice Murphy

The Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce introduced its new director, Steven Chavira, at its monthly luncheon on Jan. 9, 2020.

Sabrina Pack, board chairwoman, said: "We are honored to bring our new director, Steven Chavira, back home. It is a pleasure for me to work with this board."

"This feels like Mr. Toad's wild ride," Chavira began. "This represents a huge change for the chamber. I know this change was not easy. Our processes were changed, and our leadership has changed. When we begin to understand the change and why, we will come out better in the end. Do you agree?"

He said he is the youngest of eight children, and he was born at the old Hillcrest General Hospital in Silver City. "My mother was the secretary to the director of nursing when I was a little kid. My father worked in the mines, in the smelter in Hurley. My mother was born in Fierro and my father in Gila. We have strong ties to the area. Both my grandfather's and grandmother's families came to this area from Mexico in the early part of the 20th Century and settled here. My grandfather was a business owner in Fierro and Central. My oldest sister was the first female police officer in Silver City. My wife and I met at New Mexico State University. We have two children, a daughter, 23, living in Atlanta, Georgia. My son-in-law is in law school at Emory Law School. We have one granddaughter, Charlotte, and another on the way. They will be moving to New York City in September. Our son is a freshman at NMSU. I have a deep, deep affinity for NMSU. Crimson plays a huge part in my wardrobe, but I plan to work in some purple and gold (Western New Mexico University's colors). I am the former CEO of the Las Cruces Home Builders Association, a former board member of the National Association of Home Builders Executive Officers Association, past president of the NMSU Alumni Association, past board member of the Las Cruces Hispanic Chamber, past board member of the Southern New Mexico March of Dimes, past director of Toastmasters International, and past board member of the Conquistadors of the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, a Rotary Club officer, a Lions Club officer, but primarily I am a small business owner."

"I am a business coach by trade and a sales executive, so that's why I'm excited to be here. My role, my philosophy, I approach everything from sales and marketing," he continued. "Value added is what I do. I want to build relationships. I am a collaborator. My job is to help one business meet another business, and work together, so both grow. As your business gets stronger and their business gets stronger, this community gets stronger. I am a facilitator in your success. I am a basics person. You have to be able to network yourself. You have to be able to get your message out there effectively. Our job as the chamber is to create opportunities for you to succeed. Confidence is the key to success. Knowledge plus practice over time equals confidence.

"How do I plan to incorporate my background into my role as the director here?" Chavira asked and answered. "There are three things we want to focus on and build an understanding of here. Resiliency is to be able to rebound from difficulties or to have toughness. Elasticity is to spring back into shape. We have gone through some changes here at the chamber, and we are resilient, and we are tough."

He paraphrased a quote from Emerson. A rubber band stretched beyond its shape will never go back to the same shape. It will spring back, but it will be bigger. "That's what change is for us. We will shrink back, but to our core values, and we will become better than we were before. We will make sure the gray hairs of the board members are worth it."

Chavira said a team worker makes the dream work. "We must work together. Make sure you know why you're a member of the chamber and be proud of it. We have to have an esprit de corps shared by members of the group who want you to be proud and want you to become a member, if you aren't. We want to show the value of the organization. One question I hear is 'What do I get out of it?' They think it's a lot of volunteer hours. Yes, it can be, but we want you to be proud to be a member. Goals for the organization include increasing revenue. When revenues go up, it makes us stronger. We want to increase membership. Our goal is to come to your place of business. We want to understand your business. We want to promote tourism and job growth. We want to be the pre-eminent advisory group is southwest New Mexico. We need your commitment to get there."

"One of our hairy, audacious goals is our goal is to present a friendly, approachable, knowledgeable and cooperative attitude to everyone we meet, no matter where we are or what time of day, 24/7/365," Chavira said. "When I'm in Santa Fe, in Taos, in Phoenix, in Minneapolis, in New York City, wherever, I know my role as the principal for the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce is to carry your business on my shoulders. I know that I am representing you. When you're happy with our interaction, they will want to join us. We will have challenges, glitches and changes, but with a strong team and strong board, we will weather the changes. If board members have to worry if issues are being handled, I'm not doing my job. I am so happy to change the pronoun from you to we, and we will succeed. My door is open, if you have a question. Do not hesitate to come see me. I look forward to working together with every one of you.

Several announcements were made. [Editor's Note: only those upcoming will be announced here, not the past ones.]

Kim Clark, representing Prospectors, said Grant County Day in Santa Fe is Jan. 29, 2020. "Prospectors advocate for the county's needs. We heard 32 community presentations at the Legislative Communications Forum held on Dec. 3, 2019."

Sandy Feutz of FeVa Fotos said she and her husband, Tom Vaughan, would host their annual photography show in February, with the theme, "Silver City is a State of Mind."

Derek Ratcliff, chamber board vice-president, said next month 's speaker would be a woman from Santa Fe talking about Google business and how each business can benefit from the company's services.

Board members Jeannie Mitchell and Jack Herndon are in charge of the upcoming Awards Banquet. The date already chosen would have to be changed and would be announced at a later date. The categories for nominations are the Grant County Citizen of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Large Business of the Year, and the Linda Kay Jones Humanitarian Award.

Pack said nominations could be made using a form on the chamber's website, www.silvercity.org. "With the change of date, it will likely be moved from February into March. Our next meeting will move back to the first Thursday of the month, Feb. 6."

Debbie Nennich of W&N Enterprises, said at Wrangler's, they were carpeting the Four Seasons Room to cut down noise. "Inside, we can seat 60. If we include inside and outside, it seats 100."

Pack noted that members have access to being in the newsletter with their announcements.

Cecilia Bell, representing the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society, said the group will hold its annual meeting on Jan. 18, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. at Crosspoint Church. The featured speaker is Doug Hocking on Kit Carson.

Pack introduced the staff of the chamber. They include Wendy Ratcliff, Kayleigh Ruebush and Nancy (whose last name this author did not catch.)

Bart Roselli, Silver City Museum director, announced the new exhibit. "From the Collections," will hold its opening reception from 5 -7 p.m. on Jan. 22, 2020. "Most importantly, we want to hear from you what you don't see in the collection that should be in the collection. The second thing is Feb. 15 is Silver City Territorial Charter Day. We will have a burlesque baseball tournament at the university, an urban challenge run, a territorial ball in the evening at the Murray Hotel, Freeport is bringing a truck simulator to allow people to pretend to drive a haul truck and other events throughout the day. In addition, next spring, 350 people will be descending on Silver City for the Historical Society of New Mexico annual conference."

Raul Turrieta, wearing his county assessor's hat, reminded folks who own businesses, that they have to render their business property in January through the end of February. And seniors with combined household income under $34,000 can apply for a property tax valuation freeze. Veterans have the same opportunity.

The next meeting will take place on Feb. 6, 2020.

In a later interview with Chavira, he added items to what he had said at the meeting.

"This opportunity brought me back to Grant County," he said. "When I first heard of the opening, I realized it could bring me back home. Silver City and Grant County have great opportunities. What is the catalyst to break through? I've been in economic development my entire career. I want to give the opportunity to people to start and grow their own business. We need more small job creators. It's great to see restaurants run by entrepreneurs. Small business owners need to be more confident that they can be successful, thereby creating more businesses. When they build confidence, they bring in more networking opportunities to get to know one another. They can learn new skills through training. I want to introduce more micro-loan opportunities. A lot of small business think they have to run on credit cards and their own money, but there are a lot of lenders out there to help them launch their business."

He said the luncheons will continue as they are good networking opportunities. "We want to introduce a morning networking event, like getting two people together over a cup of coffee. I want to create evening social networking for businesses. Owners can't always get away during the day, but maybe they can in the evening. We will dutifully work with the university and the Small Business Development Center and the Work Force Commission. All of them are working to build community businesses. We have to show we are together. I have already spoken with the Silver Schools Associate Superintendent Curtis Clough about the need for trade workers. We need the workers who build the buildings we work in. I think we're in a shift right now. Most kids are pushed into college and post-graduate work, but no one is doing the heavy lifting of trades that we need in the community and people are realizing the need."

"I want to work with the community in the best way possible with the civic leaders to do the best for the community," Chavira said. "My door is always open for questions and concerns."

He reiterated the Knowledge plus Practice over time equals Confidence.

To see what the chamber does, visit www.silvercity.org .