30
Chamber’s new
leading lady… St Helens Chamber’s new Chief Executive tells Local Life how her drive to help people landed her the top Chamber role. Sitting in the café at St Helens Chamber of Commerce, it is almost impossible not to notice how quiet this usually bustling business centre is. The Salisbury Street headquarters is normally a hive of activity with networking events, business meetings and educational courses. The current pandemic has changed the way the Chamber team operates, for now, but not even Covid19 can dampen their spirits. Tracy Mawson is her usual welcoming self as she breezes over to our table: “Oh we’ve missed the café serving time, we could have had a brew!” she greets me. Tracy has been announced as the new Chamber Chief Executive, she will officially take the reins from the long-serving Kath Boullen, on 1 September, following nine years as deputy. “Yes, it will be like starting a new school year, I’ll have my pencil case ready and the blazer dusted off. Kath has trained me well and has been giving me some great advice, the whole team has been so encouraging!” says Tracy.
During her nine-year tenure as deputy, Tracy has led the business services department and more recently the education and careers guidance services. Tracy had a nervous wait to hear about her new job. “I waited all day and finally at about 7pm I got the phone call; I was obviously really pleased.” Tracy remembered. “I felt the interview had gone really well but the competition and the rigour of the approach made it difficult to gauge, I definitely could have done with an earlier phone call.” she laughs. Tracy grew up in Kent with her parents and brother and sister, she also spent time in Somerset and Hertfordshire, before moving up to Merseyside in 2003. Tracy added, “This is my 17th year in the North West, I live in Liverpool with my husband and two sons and have worked in St Helens since 2011. “In fact my favourite thing about St Helens is the people, I have always found it a really welcoming place, especially the business community. Everyone likes to go the extra mile and we
