Next Watch

In Sarasota, chamber officials had to replace Steve Queior, who ran the organization from 2003 to 2016. Under Queior's watch, the chamber played a leadership role in causes from improvements to downtown Sarasota to recruiting the Baltimore Orioles to move spring training operations to town.

In Bradenton, meanwhile, Manatee chamber officials recently had the unenviable task of finding a replacement for Bob Bartz, a nationally known chamber chief executive. Bartz, who had run the Manatee Chamber since 1982, died Feb. 26 after a brief illness. He was 65 years old.

Both chamber boards conducted wide searches for their next leaders, ultimately finding them close to home. In Bradenton, that was Bartz's longtime No. 2, Jacki Dezelski. She was named interim CEO in the chaos after Bartz's unexpected death, and the board appointed her permanent CEO May 31. The Sarasota chamber's new CEO is Kevin Cooper, who had been head of public policy and Sarasota Tomorrow initiatives at the chamber from 2013 to 2015. Prior to his Sarasota chamber appointment, made official Oct. 7, Cooper had been director of community investment for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.