RIVER CROSSING

Graceful Gatekeeper –Rusnak called chamber home for nearly two decades

By Craig Howard Current Contributing Editor

In the swirling storm created by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic three years ago, many Inland Northwest businesses found themselves tossed by waves of uncertainty.

At the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, Sue Rusnak was part of a crew that helped stabilize the local economic ship.

The chamber office manager since late 2003, Rusnak fielded a steady current of calls from business owners about a myriad of resources, including grant programs and other relief support. During the same time, Rusnak and her chamber colleagues made major pivots in their respective work schedules, transitioning from the office to home and utilizing virtual technology to facilitate meetings as well as networking avenues recognized as the chamber’s niche.

Rusnak recalls the time presenting no shortage of challenges.

“It was a little bit scary,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if we were going to have to shut our doors but we had such a great team that went above and beyond.”

Rusnak points to Chamber CEO and President Lance Beck for rallying the troops during the turbulence of the pandemic.

“Lance was great at helping us stay on task,” she said. “We all stepped up and did what we needed to do.”

Beck was the third chamber CEO Rusnak worked with during her tenure. When she began, Eldonna Shaw-Davis (then Eldonna Shaw) was at the helm. When she retired in 2014, Katherine Morgan took over. Former Chamber Board Chair John Guarisco says Rusnak “was always the consistent.”

“Sue had a real heart for the chamber and its members,” said Guarisco, a local Realtor who served as board chair in 2013-14. “She is just real, just a commonsense person who is loving, kind and knows the difference between right and wrong.”

Rusnak gives credit to her parents and her faith for providing a moral compass that has guided her life. She grew up in the rural farming community of Tekoa, south of Spokane. Her mom and dad ran a grocery store in town called Yale’s Food Market. She was the second youngest of six kids.

“We all helped out at the store,” Rusnak said. “We cleaned, stocked shelves, took inventory.”

Summers in Tekoa meant swimming, sandlot baseball and bike riding. Trips into Spokane were an event that happened around 10 times a year, usually related to shopping and/or visiting with relatives.

Rusnak initially had a career goal of becoming a teacher, based on the impact educators had on her life. Her interests growing up included reading, art, square dancing and sports like basketball and bowling. After graduating from Tekoa High in 1970, she enrolled at Spokane Falls Community College for a year.

Around that time, Rusnak met her future husband, Terry Young. The couple moved to Long Beach, California in 1972 after marrying and began their family there as Terry worked in construction and the oil fields.

“I’d practically never been out of Washington before that,” Rusnak said. “I remember our first Christmas there, it was 80 degrees.”

The couple moved with their growing family to Arizona in 1986 where Sue settled into a stay-athome mom role until finding work as an office manager with a land company in Meadview, Arizona that also ran the local water utility. In 1994, Sue and Terry went their separate ways. She remarried in December 1995 to Mike Rusnak.

In 2003, Sue and Mike moved from the desert to Spokane. Rusnak quickly realized how much she had missed the Inland Northwest, including her hometown of Tekoa.

“Growing up, I couldn’t wait to get out of Tekoa but as I grew up and went back, I realized what a great little town it is,” she said.

When she started at the chamber, first as a temporary worker and, soon after, full-time, Rusnak found the role meant coming out of her shell.

“I’ve always been a quiet person but with the chamber, you have to be out there talking with people and attending a lot of events,” she said. “I had to adjust to that.”

When Mike passed away in 2015 at the age of 72 from emphysema, Rusnak said the chamber family was there for her.

“It was a hard adjustment but having the support of my coworkers really helped,” she said. “Plus, just working at the chamber was a good outlet.”

When Rusnak gave the chamber notice in January that she would be retiring in April, several people asked her to reconsider. With three grown children, seven grandkids and one grandchild living outside the area, Rusnak was anxious to reconnect. She has already visited one of her children in Oklahoma.

“I have not gotten bored at all,” Rusnak says of her early foray into retirement.

Beck said Rusnak will be missed for her “steady presence.”

“Sue was always incredibly reliable and consistent,” he said. “The knowledge she has is not written down anywhere. She saw the ebbs and flows of the chamber and knew the people. We developed

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Continued from page 2 a great sense of trust where she provided the information so the decisions we made were based on the context of who we are as an organization.”

Q: I get the feeling that most people have a pretty uninformed perspective of what a chamber of commerce is all about. What image did you have when you began working for the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce and how did that viewpoint change over the years?

A: I thought a chamber of commerce was more like a visitor center where people could go to get more information on the town, things to do and places to go. If a person was going to be relocating to the city, they could call the chamber for information on housing and schools, job information, weather conditions, etc. Once I started working there, I learned the chamber does so much more than that. They advocate for small businesses, bringing good information to the membership from local and state elected officials. There are many excellent networking opportunities for small businesses to connect with each other and good advertising opportunities for members to sponsor chamber events.

Q: You worked for three different CEOs in your nearly two decades with the chamber. What did each of those leaders bring to the role and how did you adjust to the change in management styles with each transition?

A: I was very fortunate to work with three CEOs during my 19 years at the Chamber. Also, during my 19 years, the Valley Chamber moved offices four times. In the beginning, we were located on the top floor of the Waddell & Reed building on Argonne and Mission, a very tiny cramped office space and at the time and I was only working part-time. Eldonna Shaw was president and Ken Holloway was vice president of Member Services. There were two other people on staff, a fulltime office manager and a parttime administrative assistant. In July 2004, we moved from that location to 9507 E. Sprague, which was previously a dentist or doctor’s office, so there were several smaller offices which we rented out to start-up companies who were looking for temporary office space. We became the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Center. After we moved into that building, Ken Holloway was out on a member call and had a massive heart attack while he was driving. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but sadly, Ken died that day, so that was very shocking to us and to the membership. In May of 2012, we moved our office again to the lower level of the Greenstone building in Liberty Lake. When Eldonna retired in July of 2014, Katherine Morgan was hired as the new executive director. Katherine brought a new energy to the Valley Chamber and brought new and exciting ideas to the membership. To say the least, it was an incredible time! Our staff, although we were small, we were mighty! Membership grew and our chamber events were very well attended. We did hate to lose her, but in her place, Lance Beck came in and he brought his own style of leadership with him and it wasn’t long before we all grew to love him as well.

Q: People often talk about the “small-town atmosphere” of the Greater Valley area despite a population that is anything but small. Being from a rural community like Tekoa, have you felt some familiarity with the closeknit culture of your hometown and the Spokane Valley of today?

A: It was great growing up in the small town of Tekoa. I am from a family of six. My parents owned a small-town grocery store, Yale’s Food Market, so they were very hard workers all of their lives. That’s one of the reasons why I do love Spokane and Spokane Valley - it’s just the right size, not too big and not too small and the people, for the most part, are very friendly!

Q: How did growing up in Tekoa impact the person you became?

A: Since I was raised in a small town and since I grew up in the grocery store business, I saw my parents help many people who were struggling to make ends meet. They would always do what they could to help their loyal customers. They would offer store credit to some families and my dad would sometimes go into the store on Sunday mornings if someone would call and would need something. They were always delivering groceries to others who were homebound. As the six of us grew older, we could take over with some of these deliveries. My mom was a devout Catholic, so we went to church every Sunday, no matter what and two weeks at the beginning of summer, we went to Summer School which was taught by some very strict nuns! I still have a very strong faith to this day and I give my mom the credit for who I am today.

Q: The COVID-19 virus hit many businesses hard beginning in 2020. What do you recall about the chamber stepping up as a catalyst to support companies and workers dealing with the ongoing impact of the pandemic?

A: March 2020 - what can I say? I will always be thankful that I was able to work from home through that whole hard year. In March, when we all moved to our home offices, we thought it would be for two weeks! But then two weeks turned into two months and two months turned into 12. Even though there were some really hard times, we also had some really good times. Thanks to Lance’s strong leadership, he kept us all going. We had daily team meetings via Zoom, no matter what, even if we didn’t have anything vital to discuss. It was just checking in with each other and seeing each other’s faces every day, just to connect. That was so important for our mental well-being. Lance got us involved in facilitating the grant programs for small businesses so there were many hours spent calling our members, providing valuable information and resources for them. Many hours spent calling our members to check in to see how they were doing and what they needed. We had to think of new ways to offer networking opportunities to everyone since we could not meet in person so we did monthly networking meetings via Zoom. It was a very challenging time! In the middle of all that, we were waiting to move into our new office back on Sprague Avenue in the Valley, which was the old Banner Bank building, owned by Modern Electric Water Company and remodeled for the Valley

Chamber by Baker Construction. Construction was completed in February 2021 and we were able to move in and go back in the office in March of 2021. In August of 2021, the Valley Chamber celebrated 100 years with an amazing open house and ribbon cutting. It was a great day!

Q: You may hold the record for most chamber ribbon cuttings attended. What did you enjoy about those events that ushered in new ventures while surrounded by support from the chamber, local dignitaries and residents?

A: I was very fortunate to attend many, many ribbon cuttings in my 19 years. What I enjoyed the most was the people and learning about the new businesses. So much appreciation to our great group of Chamber Ambassadors who took the time to come out and welcome our new members!

Q: You were known as the gatekeeper of the chamber for almost 20 years. What were the most rewarding aspects of your job?

A: The most rewarding aspect of my time at the chamber was meeting so many nice people! I enjoyed the annual chamber events, like the August Golf Tournament at Meadowwood Golf Course in Liberty Lake and the Business Fair. When we started the “After 5” networking events, I always enjoyed all of those, because we were at different member businesses every month so it was fun going to these businesses and learning what they did and seeing so many of our chamber members. It was just like a party with all of our friends!

Q: Finally, as you embark upon retirement, do you have any morsels of advice to offer your former chamber colleagues as they continue to promote the economic well-being of Greater Spokane Valley?

A: The Valley Chamber team is amazing! The Board of Directors are strong and supportive and engaged in all that the chamber does. Lance is an outstanding leader and the rest of the team, Shelby Wilkins, Gina Ferraiuolo, Tim Arndt and Josh Fletcher are incredible. Keep up the good work, guys!

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