Mike Skelton, President & CEO of the Greater Manchester Chamber (GMC) since 2014, will be departing from the organization to lead the Business and Industry Association (BIA) of New Hampshire as its President & CEO. “Serving as President & CEO of the Greater Manchester Chamber has been the honor of a lifetime and I could not be prouder of the progress and success we’ve achieved as an organization,” said Skelton. “I am so appreciative and humbled by the support, dedication, and trust of the incredible staff and Board of Directors of the Chamber. They made this the most fun and rewarding experience of my career.”
“The Chamber Board is extremely grateful to Mike Skelton for his outstanding leadership and dedication to the organization for the past seven years,” said Nathan Saller, Chair of the GMC Board of Directors and CEO of Bellwether Community Credit Union. “Mike is leaving the organization in an incredibly strong position that will allow the Board, staff, and next leader of the Chamber to explore exciting new opportunities and continue to meaningfully advance our mission.”
BIA Board Chair Sheryl McQuade, regional president, Northern New England for TD Bank, said Skelton’s hiring begins an exciting new chapter for BIA. “Mike is a visionary leader who brings a true passion to BIA’s mission to help our member employers and all businesses in New Hampshire grow and thrive,” McQuade said. “Mike’s time leading the Greater Manchester Chamber was marked by innovation, growth and economic development for its members.”
“I am deeply honored for the opportunity to join BIA as president and CEO and am excited to work with our outstanding staff and Board of Directors as we work towards advancing our mission of promoting a healthy business climate and robust economic future for New Hampshire,” Skelton said. “As our state’s leading business advocate, BIA has a storied history of strong and effective advocacy for New Hampshire’s business community. I’m looking forward to working with our staff, board and membership to build upon the incredibly strong foundation already in place and developing new initiatives and opportunities that will ensure our business community continues to prosper.”
Skelton’s tenure leading the Chamber included expanding the Chamber’s economic development partnerships with the City of Manchester and State of NH allowing the organization to play a leading role in business expansion, attraction, and retention efforts; growing the Chamber’s programming, engagement, membership, and overall revenue to help the organization achieve its strongest level of financial health in decades; guiding the merging of the Manchester Young Professionals Network, the state’s largest young professionals network, into the Chamber as a permanent workforce development program of the organization; the first full rebranding of the Chamber in more than two decades and a substantial renovation of Chamber offices.
“Chamber Board leadership is putting in place a transition plan to guide the organization while the search process for the next President & CEO gets underway. The Greater Manchester Chamber is one of the leading regional Chambers in the Northeast and we are confident that the position will attract a pool of strong candidates,” said Saller.
The Chamber plans to release more information within the next month regarding the leadership transition and search process. Skelton will continue to lead the organization through the end of January.
In addition to leading the Greater Manchester Chamber for seven years, Skelton also served on the Chamber’s staff as vice president of economic development and advocacy from 2006 to 2011.
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