A former Columbus-Lowndes Development Link employee has found a new home as president of the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce in Paris, Texas.
Melissa Cook, who served as vice president of the Link’s chamber division, left the organization in April after working there five years. She was replaced by Macaulay Whitaker.
Cook, 51, began her new position in Texas on July 9. Her duties will include handling the century-old organization’s $1.3 million annual budget, supervising staff and developing and coordinating the chamber’s marketing efforts. She will also oversee LCCC’s Young Professionals Program.
She served 15 years as president of the Arab Chamber of Commerce in Alabama prior to joining the Link’s leadership team. In 2002, she was named the Alabama State Chamber Professional of the Year.
The Arab native is a 1997 graduate of the Institute for Organizational Manage-ment, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber’s Center for Leadership Development at the University of Georgia, and a graduate of the Alabama Intensive Economic Development Training Course sponsored by the American Economic Development Council and Auburn University.
She attended a basic economic development course sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech University, and is a member of the 2010 Leadership Mississippi class.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and corrections in 1982 from Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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