The search for a new leader for the Alliance Chamber of Commerce came to an end after the board members tapped Owen Burnett to take the reins.
Burnett’s first day as the Executive Director of the Alliance Chamber of Commerce was on June 19. Burnett brings with him a lifetime of experience drawn from various roles he has had over the years. He is an Alliance native who decided to return to Alliance from Denver, leaving city life behind.
“The majority of my working career has been in hospitality, so whether it’s restaurants, hotels, banquets, the golf industry, so, interaction with people has been something that I’ve constantly done,” said Burnett. “My first job was at Steamaway cleaners as a janitor for the BN, but that taught me how to clean, a life-long skill. As a teenager, I worked at Skateland, so I enjoyed an aspect of DJing or setting the vibe while everyone gets scared to approach each other, and finally one person does it and it’s fun to watch.
“I do enjoy golf, so I’m still technically an employee of the City at Skyview,” said Burnett. “We came back a year ago from Denver. We were pregnant during COVID. That was incredibly stressful, and we saw how a big city acts when things hit the fan, and we said, ‘we have to get out of here.’ We came here during the first part of COVID and were living with my wife’s parents, and we kind of just sat there and said, ‘this is probably the right place to be.’ It’s been a good decision to come back home, as far as peace of mind, letting our daughter play outside.”
Burnett said he hopes to put his skills and talents to use in promoting Alliance and its businesses, following in the footsteps of outgoing Chamber Director Susan Unzicker.
“I want to, ultimately, be a leader in the community, and you have to take on leadership roles,” Burnett said. “You have to have a thick skin, and you’re going to get yelled at. You’re going to have some people that are very happy with you; you are going to have some people that are indifferent; and you are going to have some people writing you an email every day and getting on you. It’s a process that I know from customer service, but this is a totally different style. The door’s open. I’m not technically serving you a product, but the product is promotion and getting the businesses to work together. It’s a big job, and I’ve got a lot of responsibilities, and I don’t want to let down the Chamber, Miss Unzicker. There’s a lot of things to be very responsible for.”
One of the first things that Burnett is tackling in the role is finalizing planning for Heritage Days, which he said Unzicker has organized many of the details. He said one of the long term goals is to attract more young people to Alliance.
“We have to get youth to move here,” said Burnett. “Either it’s returning, or it’s new people. There may be the Denver market. We have that beautiful hour flight, and if we could get someone from Denver to bring their family out on a Friday night, fly in, have a nice dinner, go to the comedy show at the Brewery, enjoy our town, walk the fountain, do all the things that we’ve tried to promote, and then they go home on Sunday, back to the city grind, and maybe they say to themselves, ‘That was nice. It was quiet. It was safe.’
“Getting young families back, because there’s a retiring index of workers, and Father Time comes for everybody,” Burnett said. “We have to have a replenishing of young, smart workers, hard workers, IT workers, railroaders, the full spectrum.”