On April 22, the Gunnison Country Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors announced that Leora Wallace will move into the executive director role ahead of the busy summer season.
Earlier this year, former director Celeste Helminski notified the community that she would step down at the end of May after spending eight years in the position. In late January, the chamber’s board assembled a search committee to find a replacement. Wallace’s first day in the office is set for May 6 where she will overlap with Helminski for a month.
In addition to serving as a support system for the valley’s small businesses and welcoming new ones, the Gunnison chamber owns and operates the Visitor Information Center. Located along Hwy. 50 at the eastern entryway to town, chamber staff are the first to greet visitors and answer questions about the best places to shop or eat downtown, the best mountain biking trails and where to camp for a night. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the organization, which has a slew of events planned for 2025 to celebrate.
This summer, South Valley shops, businesses and campgrounds are hopeful to return to business-as-usual after the unexpected closure of the Blue Mesa bridge in 2024. Completed construction in Little Blue Creek Canyon will allow visitors to travel unimpeded from the West for the first time in years to events like Cattlemen’s Days and Fourth of July at Jorgensen Park.
Still, Wallace will lead the chamber during a time of growing economic uncertainty. The tourism boom the Gunnison Valley experienced following the pandemic has slowly tapered off, driving visitation numbers and sales tax revenue down. At the same time, the majority of Gunnison may lose its “Enterprise Zone” status, meaning a number of local businesses and nonprofits will no longer have access to tax credits designed to stimulate the Western Slope’s rural economy. On the national level, the challenges tariffs pose on small businesses and consumers are still largely unknown.
Chamber board president Chris Layne said he, alongside other business owners, are hoping for “big things this summer and lots of foot traffic” — with Wallace at the forefront.
“[She has] a very positive energy, and looked like she was looking forward to the challenge … The executive director is the boots-on-the-ground,” Layne said. “We have our board meetings, and come up with ideas and plans, but the director is the one that really puts those into motion.”
The Times sat down with Wallace to learn more about her background as sales representative on the Western Slope and her upcoming transition.
(Editor’s note: This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.)
Let’s start with a little bit about you and how long you’ve been in the valley.
I’ve been here for 22 years and went to Western. I fell in love, like so many people do, and tried to leave after graduating. We didn't last but less than a year. Since then, I have had no intention of leaving. It's been a great place to live, and somewhere that I'm happy that I found Gunnison kind of young to make my home.
Do you have a business background?
I’ve been working in sales for the last 12 years and selling all over the Western Slope. In that tenure, first I worked for a wholesale distributor. We sold mostly boutique wine and spirits. Then, most recently, I've been working as sales manager for Irwin Brewing. I’m used to working with a lot of different businesses and identifying needs. One of the things I really liked about that job was developing relationships with many different business owners. I have a skill set that will translate well to my new role at the chamber. My strategy was always partnership selling. I wasn’t working for a company where we had something big like Jack Daniels, where you had to go in and sell so many cases or you could lose your job. Instead, we had these really niche products and you could go in and offer something that was a perfect fit for a business. I was always into developing that relationship and finding out the best way that I could work with this account or this person to help them achieve success. Even a business in Gunnison compared to a business in Crested Butte sometimes would [need] wildly different products, which was super eye-opening.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing small businesses in Gunnison?
Now that that road is going to be open, I'm pretty optimistic that this summer can't help but be an improvement upon the past couple of years. The state of the economy is tricky. We don't really know exactly how people are going to react to some of the things going on. We don't have a lot of international tourism here. That's where I think the biggest dip is happening. I do think people might travel a little more locally, so we may get more people from the Front Range, and other drivable locations. Where people choose to spend their dollars depends on where things go with the tariffs too. We did have that post-Covid boom, and I think we are still dealing with the fallout from that. The boom and bust cycle is really interesting business-wise because [the valley] was so overwhelmed for a while, and then comparatively, the past few years have been pretty quiet. Trying to pull us out of that as a community is going to be the challenge.
Do you have any specific goals for your first year?
I'm going to be Celeste’s shadow and soak up all of the knowledge I can from her. I will take that information forward, and then execute the events that are in place for the summer. I will not really add anything until I feel like I'm in a good position where I am doing what was already successful. Then I will eventually build on that. She has done such an amazing job, and is so well-loved that just being able to spend that time and see how she handles her day to day and planning is going to be instrumental in setting myself up for success in the future. She's everywhere. It's amazing. I love this town and this community, and am excited to have the opportunity to make a difference.
(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)
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