B U S I N E SS
BY: CHELSEY KRAF T
A Heart for the City
Moore Chamber president Kathy Gillette retires after years of service to local businesses
K
athy Gillette is a hugger, so much so that there’s a joke she’d hug a wall if she thought it was going to hug her back. For those who work with Gillette through the Moore Chamber of Commerce, it’s clear she feels the same way about the city, too. “That’s why we are where we are in the chamber is because of that mentality of, ‘I’d hug a wall if the wall would hug me back,’” said Kim Brown, director of development and relations for the chamber. At the end of 2020, Gillette retired from the Moore Chamber, an organization she joined in October 2006 as the membership director before moving into her role as president and CEO in 2014. For Gillette, a focus on fellowship and networking has been key to her leadership approach. When she started working at the chamber, the organization had a membership of about 200. Now,
10 January 2021
that number is over 700 because of Gillette’s due diligence, Brown said, adding that the chamber has remained solid despite the pandemic because of her stewardship.
tioned she often hears business owners saying how easy it is to work with the City of Moore, and that relationship is also strong between the city and the chamber.
Gillette entered the chamber industry from a publishing company, where she created directories for chambers in various territories. One city she worked with was Moore, and as someone who was born in Oklahoma City, Gillette was drawn to working in the area. Gillette also has deep roots in southeast Oklahoma, specifically Eagletown where she has several family members. Even though she was still living in Oklahoma, her publishing job required frequent travel, and Gillette was looking for a career that would allow her to be more settled in her home state.
“We built so many different and new places that now people want to come to Moore, they want to eat in Moore, they want to shop in Moore,” Gillette explained. “We as a chamber work great with our city. We work very hard to make things compatible so people will want to be here.”
During her years at the chamber, Gillette has also seen the City of Moore itself grow, both in terms of population and number of businesses. She men-
Gillette’s efforts earned her recognition as recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Chamber Leader from the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce Executives and the 2016 Sheila Lee Executive of the Year. She also completed the Institute of Organization Management, a four-year program through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, attending the Winter Institute in Tucson, Arizona.
