Duncan Geddes named executive director of The Parks Chamber; Tonya Lamia announces retirement; Chamber Board sets vision for the future

The Parks Chamber of Commerce announced last week that Duncan Geddes will be promoted as Executive Director upon the retirement of Tonya Lamia, who has served in the role since May of 2019.

As Executive Director of The Parks Chamber, Duncan will help ensure achievement of the chamber’s priority objectives and budget set by the Board of Directors. He will also lead daily work to include providing the right tools, connections, and resources to help businesses succeed; producing events and Board meetings; leading programs and strategic initiatives; providing Red-Carpet Services to members and businesses investing in The Parks; advocating for a competitive business climate; managing public and media relations; publishing newsletters and media advisories; selling memberships and sponsorships; maintaining websites and social media accounts; overseeing independent contractors and vendors; handling customer service and back-office operations; and involving members and volunteers with events and programs.

Duncan has served as Director of Membership and Sponsorship Development for The Parks Chamber since April of 2022. Prior to joining the team at the chamber and for the previous 30 years, Duncan served as the Head Golf Professional at Aldeen Golf Club for the Rockford Park District, where he worked to create a golf course widely regarded as one of Illinois’ finest and most affordable public facilities. During his tenure with the park district, Duncan administered seven state championships, hundreds of charitable and corporate golf outings, and countless social events.

 “Duncan Geddes will be the new Executive Director of The Parks Chamber, taking over for Tonya Lamia on April 20, 2023,” said The Parks Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board Mike Broski. “Duncan has been employed with the chamber for nearly a year, and we believe that he is the right person to lead our organization into the future. Duncan ran the Aldeen Golf Club for a number of years and has the background needed to continue the great work of The Parks Chamber.”

“I am very excited to take on the role of Executive Director for The Parks Chamber, and I feel honored to have been considered,” said Duncan Geddes. “My involvement with the chamber started several years ago when I began working with Tonya Lamia to host The Parks Chamber Golf Outing at Aldeen Golf Club. Her enthusiasm, creativity, and attention to detail helped make those outings some of the best events we’ve hosted at Aldeen.

“My relationship with Tonya was the main reason that I jumped at the chance to work with her as the Director of Membership and Sponsorship Development for the chamber after retiring from the Rockford Park District at the end of the 2021 golf season. Although I didn’t have a background as a chamber executive, I did bring an extensive network of relationships that I have enjoyed in our community for many years. Having lived in this area most of my life and having worked in a social industry like the golf business, I was able to make many great connections in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors over the years.

“For almost a year now, I have met with business owners in a wide range of industries, and it has been very interesting to hear their views on the state of local commerce. The Parks Chamber has been a natural fit due to the business climate that the leadership from the City Loves Park and Village of Machesney Park have created. The ability to help make connections between these different networks is very satisfying.

“I look forward to furthering the tremendous progress that The Parks Chamber has achieved over the past several years under the direction of our Board of Directors and the leadership of Tonya Lamia. The chamber’s mission of ‘helping businesses succeed with the right tools, connections, and resources’ will be the road map as we guide The Parks Chamber forward in the months and years to come.”

 “I look forward to working with Duncan as the new Executive Director of The Parks Chamber,” said City of Loves Park Mayor Greg Jury. “I have known Duncan for over 20 years. He brings a wealth of knowledge of this community to his new position. He is hard working, very organized, and is a great choice to continue the success of The Parks Chamber.”

Priorities for the future

Prior to promoting Duncan as the new Executive Director, The Parks Chamber Board of Directors reflected on the history of the organization, celebrated recent successes, and set priorities for the future during a strategic planning session on February 15, 2023. The chamber board includes mayors and top staff from the City of Loves Park and Village of Machesney Park in addition to leaders from the private and nonprofit sectors.

In addition to the chamber’s recently updated priority initiatives, the future value proposition of The Parks Chamber will be strengthened by its newest initiative called “Placemaking in The Parks” with the framing question, “imagine if The Parks is a productive and thriving center of prosperity with magnetic Districts that attract targeted capital investment and job growth … What would that look like?”

“Placemaking is a multi-year strategy that is focused on job creation and economic growth in The Parks,” said retiring Executive Director of The Parks Chamber of Commerce Tonya Lamia. “Through The Parks Chamber, leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors are pooling resources and providing strategic leadership to guide the development of newly-defined Districts in the City of Loves Park and Village of Machesney Park into magnetic destinations that attract people to live, visit, and invest. We believe that the work of Placemaking is crucial during these challenging economic times, because it will equip our community with the infrastructure, incentives, and identity to thrive in the long-term.”

In August of 2022, The Parks Chamber hired independent contractor Place Foundry LLC and its Key Person David Sidney to serve as Project Lead for Placemaking in The Parks. David has worked in the field of community planning and marketplace development for over 20 years in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and he has seen the power of purpose-driven Placemaking and development to transform communities. David is an accomplished urban planner, having previously worked for Transform Rockford, the City of Rockford, StudioGWA, The Buckley Companies, and GreenbergFarrow. He also currently serves on the State of Illinois Capital Development Board.

A solid foundation built on the past

In 2019 prior to hiring a new Executive Director, The Parks Chamber Board of Directors announced that they engaged in a workshop and communicated a shared a vision that guides the work of the organization to include: starting with a clean slate, creating new excitement, achieving revenue reliability and overall financial health, building stronger relationships with members, demonstrating value for members through the chamber’s events and programs, becoming “the Voice of Business” and a go-to business-to-business (B2B) referral organization, hosting world-class events that make money for the chamber, creating a new member recruitment strategy, and strengthening relationships with municipalities and regional partners.

With that shared vision, the Board of Directors hired Tonya Lamia as Executive Director for The Parks Chamber starting on May 1, 2019, and inspired her to create and lead strategic initiatives that would transform the chamber from being a nonprofit that primarily produced the annual Young at Heart Festival (until it’s final year in 2018) to become a business-focused organization that more actively supports the interests of its members.

Previously in 2018, Tonya returned to her hometown of Machesney Park when her stepdad John M. Elliott Jr. passed away unexpectedly after suffering a heart attack at their family-owned business Dairy Depot in Loves Park.

After working to help reopen Dairy Depot later that that year, she was appointed by the Village of Machesney Park to serve on the Greater Rockford Airport Authority Board of Commissioners in the seat previously held by John. The chamber board then invited Tonya to meet and discuss ways in which she might help achieve the chamber’s vision as Executive Director.

“I was honored to be hired as Executive Director for The Parks Chamber in 2019 to help the organization achieve its vision of becoming a business-focused chamber of commerce that supports the interests of its members,” said retiring Executive Director of The Parks Chamber of Commerce Tonya Lamia.

“The opportunity was a perfect fit at the perfect time in the perfect place. After working over 20 years in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors (www.linkedin.com/in/tonyalamia), The Parks Chamber gave me a chance to fulfill my life’s purpose of ‘making a meaningful difference in my community’ while also confirming that I can be truly happy ‘doing projects I love with people I like.’ It has been my honor to serve over the past four years, strengthening the foundation of the chamber while preparing it to grow. Not only do I love this work, but I also really like everyone involved with our organization. From our board and mayors to our members and elected officials, I believe that the power of public/private collaboration at The Parks Chamber table will have a positive impact on our region’s economy and quality of life for future generations to come.”

“It was especially humbling to serve in this role during shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” continued Lamia. “Many of our chamber members faced challenges like never before, so we needed to quickly adjust, collaborate, and innovate to help our region survive and emerge from the economic downturn.

“We knew that the issues were too big for any single entity to handle; therefore, we co-created and led innovative programs together with regional chambers, economic development organizations, the Illinois Small Business Development Center, and Transform Rockford to combine, link, and leverage our region’s assets.

“In addition to launching 815OpenForBusiness.com during the pandemic, I was honored to also lead the 815 Emergency Response Program in partnership with gener8tor, which resulted in ‘significantly helping’ 59 local businesses out of nearly 1,000 outbound calls, meaning that our caller believed the business owner was taking immediate action based on what they learned as a result of our call.

Additional highlights of my time with The Parks Chamber include producing our annual Golf Outing and creating our 2022 Legislative Event Series that featured ‘State of’ addresses by ten of our region’s elected and government leaders.

 “Most recently, I am proud of the great progress we’re making with the first District in the City of Loves Park as part of our new Placemaking in The Parks initiative. It’s an honor to work alongside David Sidney, his team at Place Foundry, and our community leaders to create ‘magnetic destinations’ that will attract people to live, visit, and invest in The Parks. Ultimately, these efforts will equip our community with the infrastructure, incentives, and identity to thrive in the long-term, which inspires me both personally and professionally.”

“There is so much to celebrate and appreciate about the past four years at The Parks Chamber, and it is surely thanks to leadership by our Board of Directors, especially Craig Carlson who served as Chairman of the Board since before I was hired through October of 2022,” continued Lamia. “Words can’t describe my gratitude for Craig, our board members, and all of our community leaders who have embraced opportunities to connect, collaborate, and pool resources at the chamber’s table.

“From Mayors Jury and Johnson and all of our board members to our state legislators, county board chairman, and regional partners, your contributions – and your kindness – have made a meaningful difference in my life and in the lives of all those you’ve supported. For the future of The Parks Chamber, I am confident that the chamber will thrive under the leadership of Duncan Geddes as Executive Director and Mike Broski as Chairman of the Board. It has been an honor to work with and get to know Duncan, both during his tenure at Aldeen Golf Club and over the past year at the chamber. I believe that Duncan is the perfect person at the perfect time at the perfect place.

“With support from Mike Broski and the full Board of Directors, Duncan has thoroughly embraced the role and responsibilities for the organization, and he has given me the greatest gift by leaning into the opportunity to serve our community in this special and meaningful way. Over the next month, Duncan and I will continue to transition the work of the organization to help ensure that he is ready to lead following my final meeting with the Board of Directors on April 19. I hope to continue to support Duncan and the work of Placemaking going forward as a volunteer and as a friend to the community.”

“My dad Gerald T. Lamia passed away in June of 2022, and I have been inspired to embrace quality of life now more than ever,” said Lamia. “One of my dad’s most famous sayings is, ‘quality of life is not what you have, it’s how you live it.’

“I thank the chamber and our community leaders for giving me great joy in our work together over the past four years, especially as I prepare to take time off work to embrace his other words of wisdom, ‘we need to use what Mother Nature gave us before Father Time takes it back.’ Life is a precious gift, and I look forward to my next chapter in this beautiful journey.”

 “The Parks Chamber has been a force for the business community here in The Parks under Tonya Lamia’s leadership,” said The Parks Chamber Immediate Past Chairman of the Board Craig Carlson. “From producing world-class events like our annual Golf Outing and Legislative Event Series to advocating for a competitive business climate and leading strategic initiatives like Placemaking in The Parks, Tonya has catapulted our chamber with her laser focus on connecting and supporting businesses while also making a lasting impact on our economy. We wish Tonya well, thank her for her many contributions, and look forward to our next chapter with Duncan Geddes as our new Executive Director.”

 “I want to thank Tonya for her great leadership over the last four years as Executive Director,” said City of Loves Park Mayor Greg Jury. “She has taken The Parks Chamber to the next level, which has benefitted not only Loves Park and Machesney Park but all of the businesses that are members of the chamber. Tonya has been a great asset for The Parks community, and I wish her all the best in the future.”

 “Tonya Lamia has been the leader of The Parks Chamber for the last four years, and I can safely say that without her leadership and vision, we would certainly not be where we are today,” said Broski. “Tonya is a visionary and has taken The Parks Chamber to a new level. She is leaving us in a much better place than we were previously while also leaving big shoes to fill. It is with sadness that we see her go, but we all wish her the best of luck in the future with whatever endeavor she undertakes.”

 “Tonya Lamia has done an excellent job advancing The Parks Chamber over the past four years, and her leadership will be dearly missed,” said Village of Machesney Park Mayor Steve Johnson. “We have the utmost confidence in Duncan Geddes to continue serving businesses and our communities as the new Executive Director for the chamber.” Mayor Johnson’s wife, Diana Johnson, served as Executive Director for The Parks Chamber for 16 years until her retirement in 2018.