Jim Page, the longtime head of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama and one of the area's most visionary leaders, will step down in March to take another job in Huntsville.

Page has accepted an offer to become Executive Vice President of MartinFederal Consulting, LLC, the Chamber said.

 

Page has served the Chamber as President and CEO since January 2012, and in the 11 years since has made it one of the most connected and influential organizations in the region.

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Page developed and implemented long-term plans to grow the Chamber and improve the area, and under his leadership, the organization brought business leaders together with politicians, educators, law enforcement officials, health care providers, nonprofit agencies and more for their mutual benefit.

Their 2021 Next Level Series and 2022 Next Level Summit brought all of those leaders together for candid conversations and plan-making to meaningfully address some of the most crucial issues facing West Alabama.

Page also helped lead the local business community through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on the economy by hosting several informational sessions about the virus, training sessions for businesses struggling to survive a world in quarantine and creating the Small Business Relief Fund, which distributed more than $1.5 million directly to restaurants and retailers in the area.

Under his leadership, the organization was named the 2021 Chamber of the Year by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, an international honor awarded to only the best teams.

“I have been blessed to enjoy 20 great years in the chamber industry and I am beyond proud of our extraordinary accomplishments here over the past 11 years, but this is an amazing career opportunity for me in the private sector to join a dynamic, fast-growing company. In addition to working with an incredibly talented team on critically important programs that provide for the safety and security of our nation, it also gives me a chance to scratch a longtime entrepreneurial itch,” Page said. “The icing on the cake is that this takes Sara, Elly, Emery, and I back home to Huntsville and much closer to our family.”

The Chamber will now begin the difficult task of naming Page's successor, and a committee is being formed to conduct a nationwide search to that end. It will be led by Tripp Powell and Michele Coley, the 2022 and 2023 chairpeople of the Chamber's board of directors.

For updates on that search and other news from the Chamber as it develops, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.

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