Bravo: 'Interim' lifted from title of SEV chamber executive Samantha Bishop

It's official now. The "interim" label has been removed and Samantha Bishop is the executive vice president of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce.

The formal announcement was made at Monday night's board meeting in a statement that read in part "with a full vote of confidence, the Chamber's Executive Committee voted to appoint Samantha Bishop to Executive Vice President of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce."

In this blog on Nov. 23, headlined "Time to take 'interim' off deserving Chamber of Commerce VP Samantha Bishop," we urged the chamber executive board to do right by Bishop, given the job on the interim basis immediately following the Aug. 24 firing of Steve Dennis, who had been at the helm for 19 years.

Bishop, married with a baby, inherited a mess. The chamber was literally within a week or two of having its doors shut, inheriting a $20,000 deficit and being forced to let go of three paid staffers, one of whom came back to help Bishop as a volunteer.

She's been able to get membership up, oversaw a successful political hobnob at the Brannon Center days before the Nov. 2 general election and secure a temporary home for the operation at 310 Julia St. The latter was needed while work begins on a major restoration of the historic chamber building on Canal Street that is owned by the city, with the use of Volusia County ECHO grants and CRA monies.

Bishop was pleased to report Monday that the chamber phones have been forwarded to the new location.

Among several new items on the chamber's agenda for the holidays under Bishop's stewardship:

The Holiday Open House is 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday. Attendees are asked to please bring a hors d'oeuvres (finger food) for the party plus unwrapped toys and non-perishable food items to help needy families in Southeast Volusia, in partnership with the Edgewater Rotary Club.

The chamber's Installation Awards and Banquet Luncheon is noon Wednesday, Dec. 15, at the Smyrna Yacht Club. The fee is $20 and an RSVP is asked by  Thursday. You can call the chamber at 386-428-2449.