By Hayden Seder
Hailey resident Mike McKenna assumed the reins of The Chamber – Hailey & the Wood River Valley at the start of the new year for departing executive director Mary Austin Crofts.
McKenna moonlighted at The Chamber four years ago and served on the board while living here the past two decades.
Promoting the interests of 400 members of the business community in the Wood River Valley, the once Hailey Chamber of Commerce has expanded to include all of the Wood River Valley, something in line with McKenna’s agenda for the foreseeable future.
“The Chamber is Valley-wide now, so it excites me to help everyone from Bellevue to Sun Valley to, of course, Hailey,” McKenna said.
McKenna served most recently as community outreach director for the Wood River Land Trust, experience that will translate into his new role as executive director.
From putting on events like one of California’s biggest beer festivals to the annual Draper Wood River Preserve River Festival on the Fourth of July in Hailey, McKenna plans to use his event experience to keep the current chamber events going, and possibly add more events or strengthen the current ones.
McKenna is married to Brooke McKenna, director of operations at The Hunger Coalition, and has two sons, Jack, 10, and Sam, 8. He has been on the board of the Wood River Baseball and Softball Association, coached for the Blaine County Recreation District, and has been coaching Little League soccer and basketball since 1997.
“Being the executive director of The Chamber is a great opportunity to help this place I love so much,” McKenna said. “It’s a chance to be an active part of the community and use the things I do best to help the community.”
In addition to his event experience, McKenna is an award-winning author and journalist, giving him lots of communications experience. He has written locally for Sun Valley Magazine, SVPN, Visit Sun Valley blog, and IDAHO Magazine, and has published his own fishing guide to Sun Valley.
“I’m still a writer, but I want to make sure my day job helps the community,” McKenna said.
McKenna describes his role as executive director as the captain of the ship.
One of his priorities as “captain” is to get more active with the nonprofit community.
“There are so many great nonprofits in our town, doing great work and employing a lot of people,” McKenna said. “I want to connect them better with The Chamber and the business community. I plan to be out and about and to make sure people feel like The Chamber is there for them.”