Adrenaline rush has always been my drug

Last week we held our annual banquet at the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce and it marked a milestone for me as it will be my last as the Chamber’s executive director.

Many of you probably know that I announced my plans to retire to our board last fall so they could be prepared before my Medicare kicks in this spring and I’m relaxing on Easy Street. Sure, I’ll have to get familiar with where all the soup kitchens are located and maybe check out those senior meals, but I don’t think the good Lord is going to let me starve even if he has saved me from great wealth.

In early February of 2011, just days before going to work at the Chamber as executive director, I attended the banquet and got an introduction and a quick moment at the podium. The promise I remember making that night was to stay in touch with the members and the community and to find ways to communicate what our county had to offer to all living here or thinking of living here.

Hopefully I’ve been able to make improvements in those and other areas. I know all too well that there’s more to be done, but it’s time to turn it over to new blood and new ideas.

Over the 12 years I’ve been at the Chamber some lessons came quickly, some came slowly and a few came with blood, sweat and tears.

One of the first things I learned was of a mistake I’d made in interviewing for the job. I talked about an experience I’d had with another organization. We had booked Cowboy Poet Baxter Black, with tremendous success.

What I found out later was that many of the Portales Chamber members were still stinging a little from the time in the recent past when they booked Black to perform. I’m sure dear Old Baxter, rest his soul, came out better on that booking than the one I had previously experienced, but the red ink for our Chamber was real.

I learned that, not unlike my previous career, a Chamber director is on duty 24-7 and I didn’t dislike that, I’ve always kinda enjoyed the adrenaline rush from that and making deadlines for events. I think being involved and on the clock has always been my drug. It’s kept me out of mischief, but not necessarily out of trouble.

The job of Chamber director has truly been a passion for me, something I have truly enjoyed. It came along at the right time in my life and gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my hometown like few ever get the chance.

Editor’s Note: Karl Terry, chamber director, is not gone off into the sunset yet, but the sky’s getting orange and the columns will keep coming.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]