Copperas Cove chamber hires from within for new president/CEO

By LYNETTE SOWELL 

Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce has hired from within the ranks of its board for its newest president and CEO.

Interim president and chamber board chair Nancy Nelson announced at Tuesday’s Copperas Cove city council workshop that a current board member, Beth Galick, would start the paid position of president/CEO on Aug. 16. 

Galick has served on the chamber of commerce board since 2019. 

She is a 30-year resident of Copperas Cove, and for 20 of those years she has been a local small business owner, Nelson said. 

“(Beth) has helped to organize numerous community events during her tenure,” Nelson said in an email statement. “As the new Executive Director of the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce & Visitors bureau, empowering businesses, fostering growth and building strong communities are her main goals. She is dedicated to connecting entrepreneurs, amplifying their voices and supporting economic development.”

Galick has spent 20 years as a nail technician and has served her clients for nearly 10 years at Refresh Salon and Spa, located on Avenue D in Copperas Cove. 

Galick stated on social media that her last day at the spa would be Aug. 12.

On Tuesday, Nelson told the council that the chamber of commerce received 10 applicants, and the ten where “whittled down” to four. 

After second interviews, Nelson said the chamber board unanimously voted to offer Galick the paid position of president/CEO.

She said Galick already knows many of the businesses in the community.

Nelson, who has been volunteering as interim chamber director for more than one year, jokingly told the council that she will be “glad to turn it over on August 16 at 8:31 a.m.”

Nelson will remain as board president, but she assured the council she will still be assisting as Galick takes the reins of the chamber. 

“I still will be in a role of supporter. Alicia (Menard) will be back to train (Galick) for a week and I will be additionally helping support her during her transition. We will still have Michelle (Nicolaus) as the membership director and then Bo (Roldan) will still be contract labor with us.” 

Nelson also told the council that the board would be gaining four new members. The chamber has sent out ballots to its business members and stakeholders. 

There are five present board members in addition to Nelson and they include Cliff Sanchez, Chair-Elect; Michelle Rocha, Past Chair; Charlotte Heinze, Secretary; as well as Jennifer Cotter and Shaun Smith. 

The four prospective board members on the ballot sent to chamber membership include Roxanne Flores (executive director, Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful); Clinton Brown (All City Real Estate); Casey Wiggins (United Portable Buildings); and Tasha Roberts (Taste of Cove Food Truck Park, Babies ‘N Things). 

Nelson said three board applicants not on the ballot were offered the opportunity to become Chamber Ambassadors. Chamber Ambassadors, while not members of the board, also volunteer support the chamber of commerce with ribbon cuttings and volunteer at events. 

Galick is the chamber’s sixth president/CEO since 2016, when Betty Price was president and CEO of the chamber. Sean Corrigan and Gregory Solomon both had brief stints at the chamber in 2016 and 2017. The immediate prior president/CEO, Silvia Spires, resigned in June 2022 after less than one year on the job, also citing health reasons. She took the position in July 2021 after the departure of Alicia Menard in March 2021. Menard, who was president/CEO from February 2019-March 2021, has been filling the role of a paid consultant remotely from the Odessa area, and also has spent some time back in Copperas Cove assisting the chamber as it prepared its tourism and event reports for the city council.