Kevin Cooper will take over as president and CEO of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce on October 7, less than a year after leaving a vice president post directing community investment at Gulf Coast Community Foundation. We spoke with Cooper about what drew him back to the business organization and what his plans are from here. 

What led you to apply for this job? I had gotten a phone call from one of the members of the search committee, who asked me to sit down and have a discussion. I just asked a lot of questions about the vision the board had for the Chamber and the role itself, and that piqued my interest. We started talking about the future of this community, the strength of business groups within it and where they saw the horizon, and that got me excited. 

Is there any sort of immediate change we can expect from the Chamber once you start? From a specific standpoint, it’s hard to say before you sit in the desk and before you meet with leaders and make sure things are rolling in the direction the community wants to head in. The good thing is you have Steve [Queior], a CEO stepping down after a long time and who left the Chamber in a better position than he found it. It’s a membership owned and operated organization, and the best ones of those carry forward how the members want to see it. I need to just get in touch wth them, get their pulse and carry the flag.

You were vice president of public policy at the Chamber before. Can we expect a strong policy focus going forward? I think it always has been that. For me, its divesting time between both the membership experience side and the public policy community-building side of the house. I have an interest in both of those things. I have a big picture policy-type of view, but I know it’s the day-to-day experience of members that drives the bus. I can’t say it will be more policy driven than in the past, but my hope is with my public policy background, anything we do weigh in on is done to a standard one expects to be top notch.

Last year you left the Chamber to become director of community investment for Gulf Coast Community Foundation. What did you learn there? Anyone who knows Gulf Coast knows it is one of most professional organizations in the region, if not the state. The way they operate is a sight to see, and it helped refine my thinking in the way of operations, management and what a board and membership can expect to see from how they operate. Continuing at the Chamber, I see ways to leverage organizations to create change.