New Lee’s Summit Chamber president says he’s ‘here to stay’

The Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce is looking closer to home this time for a new president.

While the organization conducted a nationwide search, they landed on Matt Baird.

The longtime Lee’s Summit resident — who has worked for the Chamber of Commerce for five years — has served as the interim president since the position was vacated six months ago. The last two presidents, who both had relatively short tenures, came to Lee’s Summit from out of the area when they took the job.

Baird, whose brother Bill Baird is the city’s mayor, has worked as director of business and governmental relations for the organization since 2015. In his new position, Baird replaces Blake Fry, who came to the Chamber in August of 2018 and left in August of 2019. He had replaced Tim Arbeiter who left the position in June of 2018.

“The Chamber has gone through some transition in the last couple of years. Three presidents in the five years I’ve been here,” Baird said.

Chamber of Commerce Board Co-Chair Tim Denker says they received more than 100 resumes and interviewed several candidates. Baird’s experience and understanding of Lee’s Summit, as well as the way he served the organization as interim director, helped him stand out.

“The passion he has for Lee’s Summit and what he does for the chamber, there was really not a lot of question he was the best person for the job,” Denker said.

Baird has already decided to set membership as a top priority on the job. He points out Lee’s Summit is home to around 3,500 businesses.

Membership in the Chamber of Commerce, which acts as a support system for local business owners, usually hovers at around 1,000. Baird wants to retain current members and attract new members. In order to hit that goal, Baird plans a stronger focus on social media communications through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

“We’re really trying to make sure we’re hitting all those angles on a consistent basis. We want to get better on that area as well,” Baird said.

Lee’s Summit is a growing community. Baird sees a number of surrounding cities plateauing, where Lee’s Summit still has a lot of growth development ahead.

“That’s a big plus. We still have land to develop and we see more homes being built right now,” Baird said.

Baird plans to continue in his advocacy role at the chamber. He will be looking at how to restructure the organization to better benefit the community and members.

Baird says they plan to continue the Chamber’s popular events, which include an annual gala and golf tournament as well as Lee’s Summit’s Oktoberfest. He will ramp up tourism efforts through the Chamber’s Visitor’s Council. He also hopes to bring some stability to the position.

“The last two presidents were not from Lee’s Summit,” Baird said.

“I’ve lived her for almost 20 years. I have young children and my wife has a law office downtown. I am here to stay.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 9:22 AM.