More than a year since the Covington Chamber of Commerce decided to change direction and part ways with its previous director it has hired a new leader in Black Diamond resident Tamara Rose.

Now completing her first full month in the position, Rose has already hosted her first planned event, the monthly chamber on Oct. 13. The luncheon also featured a forum for candidates running for Covington City Council, Covington Water District and the Kent School District Board.

“My primary job is to grow the chamber,” she said. “I keep the membership happy and bring in new members.”

Rose comes with experience at several other chambers, including the Puyallup-Sumner and Fife Milton Edgewood (FME). Though she spends the majority of her time in Covington, she still does some work for the FME Chamber.

Rose also had served on various committees ranging from education and legislation to development. In 1998 while living in Kent, she served as a public education specialist for the police department, then worked with the Washington Safety Restraint Coalition, which deals with vehicle occupant protection and child car seats. She also served as the executive director of a traffic safety nonprofit organization in Oregon for five years.

Rose stated she prefers to work for nonprofit organizations.

“I am a person that the work I choose has to be a passion,” she said. “It can’t just be a paycheck.”

Working for a chamber of commerce, she said, is one of those passions.

“You genuinely fill a community need,” she said. “I like being a part of an organization that is bigger than just me. I have a very strong passion for community.”

Rose sees the executive director fulfilling two roles: acting as a liaison between business and the city and serving as the chamber’s public image to the community.

“I’m kind of the face, the person the people in the community are going to associate it with,” she said.

The two roles also deal with Rose’s plans to increase chamber membership. With businesses tight on money, she said, chambers can no longer rely on companies to approach them. The chamber must now go and seek out new members.

“Before, you just did, because it was the right thing to do,” she said. “Now, in this economy, they’ve got to have a reason. It can’t just be because it’s the right thing to do.”

One way to do this, she explained, is for the chamber provide more ways to benefit businesses, such as the use of the chamber’s networking or their web site.

“It’s marketing you can’t buy,” she said. “(It’s about) making it a value based chamber, whether you’re new or old, we want you to find value in the membership.”

Currently, she lives in Black Diamond, though she stated she sees it a positive opportunity for her.

“This has been my shopping community,” she said. “I get to see it from a different perspective.”

Having the city support and encourage business is critical to seeing growth, Rose said, which she feels Covington does well.

“They have made Covington an easy place to build.”

She specifically named Destination Covington — a recent event jointly hosted by the Chamber and the Covington Economic Development Council — as an example of what should occur more often.

“As a new chamber executive, it tells me that their businesses are here to stay,” she said. “There are no empty spaces. They have made it easier the process of building a company.”

Roses hope is to preserve that relationship.

“I’ve never seen a city that works so well with their chamber and cares so much about their community,” she said. “They want to keep the people living here happy. That speaks a lot about Covington. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the city.”

Reach TJ Martinell at 425-432-1209 ext. 5052.

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