Photo courtesy of Gary Ananian
Vice president of the Kernville Chamber of Commerce, Gary Ananian, has now officially become the new chamber president.
The Kern Valley Sun caught up with him at the Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce meeting, Wednesday November 13, to discuss this sudden turn of events. “I didn’t really have time to prepare and process the whole thing,” Ananian said.
According to Ananian the Kernville Chamber announced the resignation of former president Orion Sanders on the chamber Facebook page.
(Please see the Kern Valley Sun article titled, Chairman resigns Kernville Chamber for our personal interview with Orion Sanders explaining his reasons for resigning.)
The chamber Facebook page stated, “We’d like to thank Orion Sanders for his service at the Kernville Chamber of Commerce. The organization accepted his resignation yesterday evening and wishes him the best of luck in his endeavors at the Kern River Valley Cemetery District. Gary Ananian the Vice President of the board will be stepping in to fill the President position in the interim.”
Ananian did not know how long the board would decide his interim presidency would last. “I have a lot of time. I love the challenge. And I love giving my community something. They deserve more and that’s more opportunities. It’s been less than 24 hours. I haven’t really settled into it. But I’m ready to move forward, and take on the challenge, and give the community what they need.”
Ananian told the Kern Valley Sun about what his vision for the chamber would be. “Right now I think my focus is probably going to be on economic development and try to have more involvement from county resources to bring jobs to the valley. I know we have housing shortages. And there’s an issue with the economy. But really it’s about creating jobs. I want to kind of focus my interim presidency, as economic development, trying to get something figured out, how we can get more investment in our community.”
As for Sanders, he had every confidence the chamber could go on about its business without him as president. Sanders said regarding Ananian, “He is the head of several other organizations. He’s the head of the (Kern River) Conservancy. So he knows how to run meetings. He knows how things work. He’s been on the board for a long time. And so I believe he’s very capable of managing the chamber.”
Sanders explained that all executive board positions of the Kernville Chamber of Commerce are renewed every year in June. Therefore Sanders would presume that the board’s plan is to keep Gary Ananian in place as Interim Board President until June when the board always votes for the executive position. Sanders also said that the executive positions are all determined each year after the board is set in place. “They’ve got their challenges as well. There’s a lot of projects that haven’t been completed and I’m confident that they’ll get those things done. They have all the ability to do it.”
