TEMPORARY BOSS — Amanda McHugh Worrall has been appointed interim executive director at the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce and Orange City Alliance. The DeLand native is a former marketing director for The Cloisters and holds bachelor’s degrees in marketing and business administration.
PHOTO COURTESY DELAND AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
After the sudden departure of its former executive director and before a plan is finalized for finding a replacement, an interim top officer has been appointed at the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce and Orange City Alliance.
Amanda McHugh Worrall is a DeLand native with degrees in business management and marketing who most recently was the marketing director for The Cloisters in DeLand.
Chamber President Susie Dolan said McHugh Worrall is personally and professionally invested in the community. McHugh Worrall is active in the Rotary Club of DeLand, the Junior Service League, and the Volusia Young Professionals Group.
She also serves on the Florida Hospital DeLand Foundation board, is a graduate of Leadership West Volusia, and has been an active member of the DeLand Chamber and an engaged member of the Chamber board.
“Amanda is one of the most professional women I know,” Dolan told The Beacon.“She knows the DeLand community and how it works, and knows the businesses here. She will be a real plus for us.”
McHugh Worrall takes over after the unexpected departure of former Executive Director Lacey Ekberg, who resigned at the end of October so she could focus on family business issues out of state spawned by several deaths in her family.
Dolan said she appointed McHugh Worrall so that Sally Updike, who has taken the helm on an interim basis several times in the past, could focus on her regular duties as director of operations.
The search process for a permanent replacement for Ekberg hasn’t been finalized, Dolan said, but McHugh Worrall will be considered for the position.
“Personally, and not speaking for the Chamber, I would like her to be the executive director,” Dolan said. “She’s a calming influence, but [also] a get-things-done person. Things are falling into place already in the short time she’s been with us.”
Dolan said she’ll be working closely with 2018 President Joe Hearn and the board of directors in determining how to proceed in the search process.
— Joe Crews, joe@beacononlinenews.com