Chamber boss 'bittersweet' about departure

Home is where the heart is, and for Heidi McCutcheon, it's where her job has been the past 14 years. That will all change the evening of Sept. 23, when she will leave her job as the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO and turn out the lights for the last time. 

"Bittersweet," McCutcheon told the Journal when asked about her feelings on leaving. "It really sums it up. I began volunteering with the chamber in 2009 and so when I was appointed as CEO, I estimated, one of my friends told me the other night that I had said, 'Oh, I'll be there for four or five years.' So, having led the organization for 12 years since I said that, like we said, time gets away from you."

"It is bittersweet because this is my home. I grew up here, this is the community that I've always called home. At the same time, its been a long time since I've done something new and so I'm excited for that opportunity to do something new and ready to carve out a new pathway." 

McCutcheon said it wasn't an easy decision to leave, saying the hardest part is leaving the group of people she works with at the chamber. One of her good friends, Deidre Peterson, was named the next president and CEO, which was a reason McCutcheon said she felt comfortable leaving.

"That's the only thing that makes it possible," McCutcheon said. "She has strengths in so many areas that people haven't seen yet that to see where she takes it in a decade is going to be phenomenal for this community. I know she'll be able to accomplish far more than I did. That is the ultimate goal as a mentor and a leader is to bring people up that surpass where you go and I have no doubt that she'll do that." 

McCutcheon will be the chief operations officer for the Thurston Economic Development Council. She will be working closely with the executive director and the four directors on the leadership team. 

McCutcheon is familiar with Thurston County, where she was a real estate agent from 2002 to 2008. She met her husband in Lacey and they lived there for a brief time after getting married before moving back to Shelton. 

She has no plans to move back to Thurston County ­- she lives close to her parents and childhood home. She is helping out with OysterFest as a member of the Skookum Rotary before beginning her new job Oct. 5. 

"I'll be there the week before with setup and then teardown is Monday and so that will give me a day to breathe before showing up in an official capacity in Thurston County," McCutcheon said. 

As her time winds down with the chamber, she recounted some of her favorite memories, including 90 people attending the first chamber gala she was a part of. It has since grown to max out at 450 and having a waiting list. 

"It's more fun, it's less agenda driven and really gives people that opportunity to get dressed up and celebrate the accomplishments," McCutcheon said. 

She said government affairs is another one of her favorite memories and accomplishments. When she first began her position, it was just talking about what projects municipalities were looking at, and now, on a monthly basis, a different speaker comes and talks with the chamber. The chamber started candidate forums during each election season to help people ask questions before submitting ballots. 

McCutcheon said some of her top accomplishments to her might not be things the community would consider astounding, such as the implementation of some policies, including the public platform policy, which allows the chamber to be more efficient in certain areas.

She said she is looking forward to being able to attend events and not have to work at them. McCutcheon is also excited to have her weekends and evenings more available for free time. 

"It will be interesting, I guess," McCutcheon said. "I hadn't really considered that yet. ... I don't know that I'll ever be a bystander and with so many years of doing that, it will be difficult for me to not step in and assist when I see that it's needed." 

She said she faces a dichotomy about her final day quickly approaching. 

"One moment, I'm very excited and the next moment, I'm sad," McCutcheon said. "(I'm) trying to remind myself that moving to a new community doesn't mean that I'm leaving this one behind and one of the things that I really like about this new position is that some of the programs cover Mason County and so I'm able to indirectly support the community still. Not being able to work hand-in-hand with some of the people that I admire so greatly will be the hardest thing."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

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