Nathan Smith, new executive director of the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce, took part in an interview with KOXE Thursday morning in which he shared his vision for the organization.

“One of my first jobs is just to stay out of the way of the great progress that’s been made by the Chamber the last several years,” Smith said. “That’s due in large part to the great volunteers we’ve got in this area, the board and especially the great, talented, dedicated staff that we have currently. We’ll continue with a lot of the great things that are going on, evaluate everything we’re doing at the Chamber and make sure we’re fulfilling our purpose and mission. We really want to build that business climate in this area.”

Further elaborating on some future plans, Smith said, “The Chamber is going to reflect what’s going on in this community and this area. As you well know things are just booming in Brownwood and this area. We’ve got so many great things going on, just take a glance out your window every now and then and you can see a ton of traffic, a ton of events, a ton of new businesses coming in the area. That speaks volumes to the fact that we’re a very attractive place for people to love, work and play. We’re going to continue that.”

Smith joins the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce staff after more than 10 years of working with non-profit organizations. Most recently he was Associate Director of Field Operations for Texas Farm Bureau. In that capacity, he worked closely with staff, volunteers, elected officials at all levels, and stakeholder groups to advance policy and membership development for the largest agricultural organization in the state. Before moving into that role, Nathan worked as a field representative for TFB in west and central Texas where his focus was relationship development and agricultural policy. He has experience lobbying for member-driven initiatives in Austin and Washington and coordinating public relations campaigns.

“I’ve got a background in agricultural, non-profit organizations, government affairs, lobbying and that sort of stuff,” Smith said. “It fits together well with what the Chamber does as far as interacting with a non-profit board. I did a lot of promoting with Texas Farm Bureau and I worked with a whole lot of county Farm Bureau boards in my time at Farm Bureau. I’ve worked with the Brown County bunch here and they’re top notch folks.”

Smith and his wife, Kara, live on their family ranch near May and enjoy raising livestock along with their four young children.

“I’m a Tarleton grad and I married a local girl, Kara Kelton, several years ago,” Smith said. “She’s from May originally and grew up in this area. We’ve bounced around from San Angelo to Brown County to around Temple and we decided last year we really wanted to make this our home. We got some property in May and we raise livestock. We wanted our kids to be raised in the country and to put down roots here. This job came open and it was a great opportunity for us to move back and to do this and accomplish our family goals. That was sort of our drive to move back to this area. We’re excited to be here full time completely and putting down roots in Brown County. And we’re excited about the challenges that lie ahead for the Chamber as well as the opportunities coming our way.”