Derrell Hartwick became CEO of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 1, following the retirement of previous chamber CEO Steve Wilson. Hartwick comes to North Idaho from Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was director of sales at the Little Rock Regional Chamber. 

Hartwick, age 30, says he was familiar with chamber of commerce life from a young age — his father led the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce for 15 years. The Journal spoke to Hartwick about his experiences in a chamber, his perception of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber, and his plans for the future.

Journal: What do you like best about working for a chamber of commerce?

Hartwick: It’s unique. Every day you’re learning something new. One of the best things about it is that you’re going to impact a business or the business community every day, whether they know it or not. You get to help people and help change their lives in generational ways, because you’re helping their business or creating jobs for that community. I love getting up in the morning because I know I’m going to create change for the better in our community.

Journal: What drew you to Coeur d’Alene? 

Hartwick: There are a lot of chambers around the nation, and there’s a lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones. You come in and you look at an overview of this one, and it has such a solid base and great community support, but there’s also a lot of room for growth around the region. That’s kind of unique to find in the chamber industry. In a lot of bigger cities, it takes quite a bit of cutting through red tape to get something rolling and done. But in communities like this, you can have a good idea, and it can be implemented and start to take effect in a pretty decent time period.

Also, I’m a huge snow skier. I’m up at the mountain almost every weekend. There’s also the beauty of North Idaho and being able to go skiing in winter and go on the lake in the summer. It’s a unique place.

Journal: Has anything about Coeur d’Alene surprised you? 

Hartwick: The biggest surprise would be the housing market. It’s a very competitive market up here. I think the housing market was the biggest surprise to me because I figured it would be a lot like where I’m from, where the housing market is very affordable. Here, it’s a little bit of an issue, and we’re hopefully going to be a part of addressing that in the future.

 Journal: What’s your vision for the chamber?

Hartwick: In the immediate future, I want to focus on the chamber itself by getting a few new events and making sure that people understand the value of a membership with us, whether they live in another city or not. There’s no reason for anyone from Post Falls, Hayden, or Rathdrum to not be a member of our chamber, because they’re getting and receiving business every day from Coeur d’Alene, just like we are from them. The more we can grow our membership and get people involved, the more voice we’ll have and the more we can do. 

I want to get it to a point where people are out in the community and our members are going, “How are you not a member of the chamber?” I want businesses to go out and do that, and not just people who work for the chamber. That’s when you can really make a lot of change in the community for a lot of good, when you have that much support. 

There’s a lot of things that we want to do, (including) working with the school districts. Bringing the business community into the school districts is a really important thing, because everybody we talk to says, “I need a workforce.” How do we get these people who need a workforce to be involved in the school so that when people come out of our high schools and our colleges, they’re workforce ready?

Journal: What’s the greatest challenge that you see the chamber facing?

Hartwick: I see two things. No. 1, a lot of industry is going online, so they’re not really selling inside their city. They might be thinking, “What’s the value of a chamber if I can’t sell inside my city?” It’s growing those relationships. You’re eventually going to need some help with something. You’re going to need to be a part of that community that you’re in.

No. 2, I would probably say we have quite a few people moving to the area — which is a great thing, because it helps us grow — but most of them are retirees. These people who are moving in have quite a bit of knowledge, and they probably ran a successful business or were part of a successful business. Getting them involved in our chamber and in our community is one of the things that I think is going to be important in the next five to 10 years. It’s a unique thing to have, because there aren’t a lot of places in the nation where you have this surplus of people coming to retire who have been successful.

Journal: Who is one of your idols?

Hartwick: I love my mom very much, but I’d have to say my father. He ran in the same industry as me, then went into politics. He basically came from nothing and made something. He took a chamber in North Little Rock that had about 200 members and was kind of on its last leg, and he raised it while he was there to 1,600 members, which was the second or third largest in the state. He made it a real powerhouse. My dad has been one of my closest mentors.

Journal: What’s one thing that’s on your bucket list?

Hartwick:  Actually, one of my bucket list items was to run a chamber of commerce. I got to check that off.

In the next couple of years, it’s anything that has to do with traveling. There are a few places I really want to go. I would like to get over to the Swiss Alps and go ski there. I’m a scuba diver as well, so I would love to get over to the Philippines and that area. I want to experience all our world has to offer and I want to make memories.