Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce Staff
Bill Powell - Executive Director
bill@hooverchamber.org
Currently serving as the CEO of the Chamber, Bill is responsible for implementing programs that have taken the Chamber membership from 300 to over 1,200 members in fourteen years.
Responsibilities include: Overseeing a monthly newsletter sent to over 1,600 Hoover-area business leaders. Overseeing committees, including Economic Development Committee, Minority Business Council, Education Committee, Ambassador Committee, Scholarship Committee, the Chamber's Golf Committee, the Chamber's committee on the Regions Charity Classic Golf Tournament (rated #1 on the PGA Champions Tour by Sports Illustrated Magazine), and the Chamber's committee on the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament, held at Regions Park (formerly known as the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium) for twelve consecutive years.
Bill implemented the Board of Trustees membership program, adopted by the Board of Directors in 2007. This program has resulted in the addition of dozens of new members and tens of thousands of dollars in additional revenue for the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, allowing the Chamber to expand services to the membership, the city, and the business community in countless areas.
Bill also is responsible for overseeing development of the annual Hoover Magazine, a high-gloss, first class magazine used by the Chamber to showcase Hoover, particularly for newcomers to the area and for businesses considering locating in Hoover; Developing and implementing the Annual Hoover Chamber Golf Tournament, the largest fund raiser in the Hoover Chamber; Developing and implementing Firefighter and Police Officer of the Year Awards; Developing and implementing the City and School System Employee of the Year programs; Developing and implementing the Hoover Chamber Scholarship program.
Bill holds a B.S. Degree in Marketing and a Masters Degree in Business Administration - MBA - both from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Susie Collins - Executive Assistant
scollins@hooverchamber.org
The Executive Assistant reports directly to the Executive Director of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce.
Primary responsibilities:
Accounting/Bookkeeping - The Assistant is responsible for billing members for dues on a rotating monthly basis, as they become due. The Assistant is also responsible for writing collection letters, receipts, etc., and mailing the invoices, reminders, notices, and letters of renewal.
Banking - The Assistant is responsible for making deposits, writing checks to pay invoices, bills, etc., and balancing the checkbook.
Membership - The Assistant is responsible for keeping the membership database current, including up to the minute additions of new members and deletions of lost members. Members not paying their dues within 180 days of the due date will be dropped for non-payment.
Newsletter - The Assistant is responsible for mailing, and distributing the monthly Chamber newsletter in a timely manner, and assists in selling and collecting for advertisements in the newsletter.
Office - The Assistant is responsible for ensuring the Chamber office is open for business according to the hours prescribed. The Assistant is also responsible for seeing that the office, including the supply room areas and display areas are kept in an orderly way, suitable to hosting guests in the office at all times.
Telephone/Receptionist - The Assistant is responsible for answering the phone in a professional manner. The Assistant is responsible for welcoming guests into the office, including drop-ins, committee members, board members, vendors, etc.
Secretary - The Assistant serves as the secretary to the Chamber, and is responsible for taking minutes of the Board Meetings, and other meetings as designated by the Executive Director.
Chamber Luncheons - The Assistant is responsible for taking and keeping track of reservations for the Chamber luncheon each month, notifying the facility of the number of attendees expected, and collecting from those who attend as well as those who make reservations and fail to attend (or cancel).
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| Susie Collins with her daughter Abbie. |
The Assistant is responsible for keeping track of our standings regarding costs vs. collections for the luncheons, keeping track of those attending as guests, as guests of the sponsors, and billing and collecting for same.
Email Susie at scollins@hooverchamber.org
Verona Petite, Account Executive
verona@hooverchamber.org
Verona came to the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce in November of 2008 as an account executive after working in the mayor's office of the City of Homewood for eleven years. Prior to that time, she was in office equipment sales, having earned awards with several different companies.
Her primary responsibilities involve the recruitment and retention of members to the Chamber by identifying leaads through business journals, trade magazines, newspapers and community involvement, as well as by meeting new contacts through chamber events and making outside calls. She also assists the other professional staff members in all chamber functions and events.
Verona's husband, Angelo, is a rep with Kraft foods, and they have two children.
Rhonda Pyatt, Account Executive
rhonda@hooverchamber.org
Rhonda Pyatt is responsible for recruiting new members to the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce. She also works closely with the Chamber Ambassadors program.
As a volunteer, Rhonda is an Ambassador for the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as an ambassador for the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Hoover Service Club and previously served on the Hoover Belle Committee.
She is also in the Sanctuary and Senior choirs at Lakeside Baptist Church.
Prior to joining the staff of the Hoover Area Chamber, she worked for BellSouth Telecommunications as a Sales Representative, Project Manager and Analyst.
She attended the UAB School of Business.
Her son, David, is a Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon with a private practice in New York City - opening in the summer of 2009. She is also a member of the chamber as a professional photographer as Rhonda Pyatt Photography. www.rhondapyatt.com
Yvette Weaver, Account Executive
yvette@hooverchamber.org
Yvette began working with the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce in May 2009. Prior to coming to the chamber Yvette worked at FOX6 WBRC for over thirteen years and was incremental in developing the "Hoover's Happening" campaign and the "Hoover Has It" Campaign, running on ABC 33 40 Television in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, beginning in the Spring of 2009.
Her experience in sales and media are essential to the growth the chamber strives to continue over the next several years. Her tenacity and drive make her a leading part of the Chamber membership recruitment.
Prior to working at FOX6, Yvette lived in Houston, Texas where she grew up and graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors Degree in Finance.
Yvette and her husband Curt have two wonderful children, Madison and Will.
