New Leader Aims to Extend County Chamber’s Reach

Shaunese Teamer, new executive director for the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, has plenty of ambition and energy, which she plans to use to expand the function and membership of the chamber.

“I want to send a new vibe across Lake County,” Teamer said.  Teamer has been with the chamber for two months; she brings 22 years of experience, most recently as community outreach manager for Channel 11.

One of the chamber’s goals is to expand membership beyond the “County Seat” — Waukegan, Gurnee, and North Chicago.

While many communities have a local chamber of commerce, being involved in the Lake County Chamber of Commercehelps businesses expand beyond their community’s borders, Teamer said.

“Most chambers have a business to business focus, but we want to initiate a little business to consumer,” Teamer said.

When working at Channel 11, Teamer helped initiate events that included nonmembers as well as members of the nonprofit public television station.

One project Teamer was involved in promoting was A Lion in the House, a documentary about pediatric cancer. She organized an event that brought pediatric care units, families with children suffering from cancer and others to the Channel 11 studio to answer phones and talk about the issue.

She said that while it was a lot more work than just running an ad for a program, it was also much more meaningful.

“There were people who said they didn’t feel like they had a network … What we did went beyond putting two ads in a newspaper; we used the dollars instead to coordinate networking,” she said.

Putting that model into action here, Teamer is working with a local library to co-host an author for a speaking engagement. She said she is open to trying new ideas to help promote Lake County businesses.

Looking at the 2012 calendar, Teamer plans to hold more events with local chambers from across Lake County.

She said one of the biggest challenges for businesses is finding the time for networking, With that in mind, she plans to experiment with holding chamber events at different times of the day and evening. She said the chamber also wants to explore how it can promote members that can’t make it to events.

“The chamber wants to promote businesses. The challenge is to expand what we do and to promote businesses on a different level,” she said.

Teamer believes the chamber can expand its membership if members believe there is value in membership.

One networking event Teamer is considering is an all-day bus tour to businesses throughout Lake County.

“We have to change what we do; we have to give members something different and I’m excited about it,” she said.