Chatham County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rebecca Dickenson spoke with 97.9 The Hill’s Andrew Stuckey on Wednesday May 28. As the Chamber moves to new location and a Chatham bus tour kicks off, there’s plenty to discuss.
She spoke on her first eight weeks in the role, her background working with the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the challenges and opportunities of how large Chatham County is, and more. Read the transcript of their conversation below.
Click here to listen to their conversation in full. The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
Andrew Stuckey: Rebecca, thanks for coming up and being in studio this afternoon.
Rebecca Dickenson: Oh, thanks for having me.
Andrew Stuckey: So, how long have you been on the job now?
Rebecca Dickenson: I started April 1st, so I’m new.
Andrew Stuckey: How’s April and May been for you?
Rebecca Dickenson: It’s been wonderful. We’re running fast, working really hard to make sure this Chamber is set up to serve the community between now and the end of the year. We just released a program of events, we are up and running and ready to serve.
Andrew Stuckey: How familiar were you with the work of the Chatham County Chamber before you took the job?
Rebecca Dickenson: Oh, great question. I worked with the Chamber for Greater Chapel Hill and Carrboro, Aaron Nelson, and his team for seven years. So, luckily I got to understudy under one of the greats. Everything I know, I know from Aaron, so I’m really grateful to be well-poised and trained stepping into the role.
Andrew Stuckey: Chatham County is multifaceted, there’s a lot going on there in a lot of different places. A lot of that focus is on Pittsboro itself with all the growth of course, but that 15-501 corridor where Chatham County meets Orange County is a pretty vital piece of the county as well. It seems like you’re kind of positioned to already have a lot of those connections that that’s kind of filling out that area.
Rebecca Dickenson: Yeah, I’m thrilled to be working on regional partnerships and growing how we can be connected with people not only in the county, but also across the triangle with Regional Transportation Alliance and Leadership Triangle and SBTDC and other partnerships regionally to support the local business community there. Our Chamber of Commerce is actually gonna be moving offices in July, so we’re gonna be in the heart of that at 79 West Coworking and Innovation Hub, starting July 1st. We’re thrilled to be in that corridor that you were just talking about. … the Chatham Chamber will be in Chatham Park starting in July.
Andrew Stuckey: We were looking at the most recent master plan and the ongoing story with Chatham County, the different ways to look at the growth that’s coming and be astounded by it. That plan for the South Village is so much bigger than anything that’s happened already and you’re like physically driving by and you look at Mosaic in 79 West, you’re like, ‘that’s a big development there’ and it’s pretty small compared to what’s coming generally. That’s amazing and it’s kind of overwhelming in some ways when you start extrapolating that out, but that specific location, the Mosaic 79 West has kind of been the flagship, right? It’s the first big, visible development of what Chatham Park is going to do for Pittsboro.
It’s just getting started! So, the key words in Chatham County right now are ‘growth’ and ‘opportunity.’ Doesn’t really matter what’s happening nationally, local matters — and what’s happening locally there is really incredible. There’s lots of path forward, not only just through Chatham Park, but all that’s adjacent to it and then countywide. I mean, when you think about economic development in Chatham County, the mega-sites and the workforce that’s coming there in the future, it’s a growing county no matter what in the next decade.
Andrew Stuckey: It’s also a big county, you’ve got Goldston and Siler City, and you were mentioning the mega sites. What’s that been like, getting outside of the Chapel Hill to Pittsboro corridor?
Rebecca Dickenson: It’s so much to learn. It’s really fun, cool people, really nice venues, great stuff to know all around. Because it’s such a big county, we’ve actually planned at the end of August, on August 28, for the This Is Chatham Bus tour. We’re partnering with Leadership Triangle to host that and it’ll be launched from Chatham Park, just like we talked about and go around the county about 85 miles, really cool stops along the way, including Farrington Village and some other things, and speakers hop on and off the bus. So, one day intensive leadership, learn about what is happening and growing in Chatham County. If you’re interested or anybody in the region wants to come and join us for that, we’d love to have have people sign up and, and get their seat on the bus.
Andrew Stuckey: When is that again and how can people sign up?
Rebecca Dickenson: It’s Thursday, August 28th, that last week of August. So plan ahead. Our website is the best way to sign up, chathamchambernc.org/events. We’ll get you to our events calendar, but you can find it also with upcoming events link on the homepage.
Andrew Stuckey: This is one of my favorite types of questions where I start by saying, I don’t really have a question here, but I’m suddenly reminded that the new YMCA opened in Pittsboro, which is kind of a big deal for Chatham County. Have you seen how busy it is, what kind of experience people are having? Are you hearing anything around town about that amenity?
Rebecca Dickenson: Being open? Oh man, we love that new YMCA if, um, if you’re a YMCA fan or a member or just are interested in knowing what a really cool YMCA could look like, it is a flagship property. It’s got water slide and all the best amenities you could think of and it’s gonna be huge for the county to be able to serve all of the housing that’s going in right around there. So not only beautiful, not only brand new, but a really great staff, perfect service. Summer camps are running there. Um, so it’s, if you’re still looking for summer camps, they should check ’em out.
Andrew Stuckey: Is there anything else that you wanted to mention that we haven’t gotten to yet?
Rebecca Dickenson: I think mostly I wanna encourage everybody to plug in and make sure they know what’s happening with the Chatham Chamber. If they’re interested in learning more about Chatham County, we’re here to be a resource for them on how to invest and grow in Chatham County on the business side of things. We have connections for people who are looking to move to the area, so we just wanna make sure you know that we’re a resource for you. Upcoming programs, like I said, include that this is Chatham Bus Tour. We’ll have a State of Chatham featuring Aaron Nelson as our data guide for that program in September, on September 26. And then in October we’ll be taking our community to the Governor’s Club for a golf tournament and fundraiser. We’re grateful to be keeping it all local there.
Andrew Stuckey: Rebecca Dickinson, president and CEO of the Chamber, thanks for making time for us this afternoon and hopefully we catch up again real soon!
Rebecca Dickenson: Appreciate being here. Thank you!
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