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LEADERSHIP Business Leader Profiles
LENDING A HELPING HAND Ann Marie Baker spent nearly two decades volunteering for the chamber before becoming chair of the board. BY TOM CARLSON
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THE CENTENNIAL
If chamber involvement were a sport, nn arie aker would be a player not a spectator. She has participated in about every chamber activity available since oining in the late ’ s. When the e ecutive first oined the chamber, her initial committee assignment was working on member retention. It was a lot of phone work encouraging chamber members to pay their delin uent dues. While dinging people to pay what they owe is part of a banker’s ob sometimes, it is not the fun part of the ob. ut nn arie has always looked for the upside. I was a natural fit based upon my industry, she says. er mother worked in the ank of tchison ounty in ock ort, issouri, for years, so banking is in her N . s it turns out, It was a good way to learn about how members felt about the chamber, she says. Not being from Springfield, it was a
nice way to learn about the community. I met people that I would not have met any other way because of that volunteer service. he northern issouri native continued to serve on chamber committees through the ’ s and in other service organi ations including the unior League, which she chaired in 6. hen in , Lisa fficer, a board member who had served with aker on the unior League oard and years later on the board of ity tilities, asked her to oin the chamber board. It was not an opportunity I had sought out, aker says. ut I was delighted about the opportunity to serve. When aker oined the board, the chamber was in the middle of responding to an economic landscape much different than years earlier. any well-paying manufacturing obs had been lost to overseas competition, and the best ob opportunities re uired a more educated workforce. If Springfield was going to compete, it needed collaboration between local government and private sectors. ities that were succeeding were characteri ed by an educated and diverse workforce. It was important that the chamber, local government and the education sector be on the same page. o that end, the chamber got involved in recruiting and endorsing candidates for the school board. Soon after she oined the board, aker dove into the recruiting effort. She was a natural for the ob, having grown up learning about school matters from her father, who was the superintendent in her hometown. art of the process was identifying potential candidates who had the right professional backgrounds and approach to serve, she says. Ne t, she had to find out if a candidate would be willing to serve and run for election. She also had to learn if they lived in the Springfield school district. Sometimes, we might call them. Sometimes we might take them to lunch. Sometimes, it was one-on-one. nd sometimes we would gang up on them, aker okes. ut eventually over a period of years, people got to know that was what you were probably calling them about so be prepared. It was generally positive. fter several years on the board, aker was nominated as board chair in . er first
Photos courtesy Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce
Ann Marie Baker started volunteering for the chamber in the ’80s. She was eventually named chair of the board in 2007.
