Larry G. Mankin made just his third trip to Salt Lake City this week, but now he is here to stay.
Mankin, president of the Kalamazoo (Mich.) County Chamber of Commerce, was introduced to members of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday as its new president and chief executive officer.He said he is ready to help the local chamber grow in size and importance.
"I firmly believe in creating a program that has some vision," Mankin said. "You'll be hearing and seeing much, much more of us in the future."
Mankin, 50, said he needs to wrap up a few projects in Michigan, but he plans to start working at the Salt Lake chamber office on Jan. 18. He should be full-time here by Feb. 1.
Bill Nelson of Intermountain Health Care, who served as chairman of the chamber president search committee, said Mankin is taking over an organization with about 1,700 members, a $2 million budget and a staff of 24.
During his seven years in Kalamazoo, Mankin said he helped its chamber staff grow from 17 to 35 employees and its operating budget increase from $1.1 million to $2.6 million.
Board Chairman Alan S. Layton said the Salt Lake chamber has not grown that fast.
"The Utah business community has experienced some great prosperity over the last few years. The chamber's prosperity hasn't kept up with that, so there is some catch-up (to do)," said Layton, adding that Mankin's salary will be "$100,000-plus."
Mankin has spent almost 25 years working for several different chambers of commerce, and he said he has "a great deal of passion" for his work. He comes into the job vacated by two-year president Stanley B. Parrish, who resigned in July citing "personal and professional difficulties."
Mankin said he was aware of that situation. But he said he talked with the chamber staff Monday, and they all seem enthusiastic and ready for new ideas.
"I don't turn staff," Mankin said. "I really believe in the people we have on board. . . . Generally, I'm the easiest guy in town to get to. I see no reason why that would change here."
Nelson said the chamber's committee found Mankin with the help of an executive search firm, Spencer Stuart. The committee considered about 50 local and national applicants and worked down to a group of 11 candidates in November. That number was narrowed to a group of four finalists who were interviewed Dec. 8 by the search committee and the chamber's executive committee.
"The attributes that were most exciting to us as a joint committee were Larry's leadership of growth and progress (in Kalamazoo)," Nelson said.
Mankin, who is married and has four daughters, said he was not looking for a job when the search firm contacted him, but he always wanted a chance to work in a major U.S. city.
"This came completely out of the blue . . . ," Mankin said. "I think this is a clean slate here."
Nelson said Mankin has much to learn about the local business community, but his past successes show he is equipped to handle that challenge.
Mankin said Kalamazoo is in a heavily industrialized area, with 450 manufacturers. Even though the Salt Lake area is different, he said, he is impressed with its business mix.
"My impressions have changed dramatically in the last 24 hours," Mankin said. "I had no idea that they had the kinds of businesses in this market that I saw (during a Monday tour)."
Nelson said Mankin also impressed Salt Lake chamber members with his attempts to get the Kalamazoo organization involved in meeting the community's social needs.
Mankin said the Kalamazoo chamber did that through a mentoring and scholarship program for at-risk children and an anti-drug program for businesses.
Chambers need to be more willing to cooperate with other agencies on such programs if they want to grow, he said.
"It's the kind of stuff that I think chambers in the future need to be involved with," Mankin said.