By Staff
Renee Shadden
Hartselle Enquirer
The Hartselle Area Chamber of Commerce has a new president.
Susan Hines, current branch manager and lending officer of Colonial Bank, will begin her new position as chamber president on May 6. She will replace Gloria Roberts, who resigned to work full-time in real estate.
"This job will be similar to what I do now, but instead of selling bank products I'll be selling the city," Hines said. "I'll be trying to get new businesses into Hartselle and accommodate the businesses we already have."
Hines was the chamber's first female board chair. She has worked on many Chamber of Commerce projects, including Depot Days, the Garden Tour of Homes and Christmas Tour of Homes to name a few.
"There are a lot of good folks in Hartselle and I'm excited about building chamber membership," Hines said.
Hines moved to Hartselle eight years ago following her husband Tom's discharge from the U. S. Army. She wanted to be near her family in Decatur and felt Hartselle offered a good school system for her three daughters.
"Having lived in Decatur, I hadn't realized what Hartselle had to offer," Hines said. "Hartselle has great schools and I wanted to be close to my children while they were at school, so we moved to Hartselle."
Having worked in retail most of her life, Hines, a grandmother of two, was employed with First American Bank before deciding to finish her art degree.
"It is ironic because I left banking to get my degree in art and then 8-1/2 years later I returned to banking at Colonial Bank," Hines said. "I feel that I am able to use my art degree and creativity in my chamber work."
Plans for the city include a spring festival much like Depot Days, but on a smaller scale in the beginning stages.
"It's still in the works, but we've talked about having something like crafts, antiques or plants. I feel we need to have more functions like this to get folks into town," Susan said.
A growth in chamber membership and community involvement are at the top of Hines' list of goals.
"My biggest goal is to meet the chamber members we have and find out why those who aren't members are not members and get them to be members."