West Alabama Chamber Announces Latest Staff Additions

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama on Thursday announced two key additions to its staff

Dianne Pickren came on board at the Chamber on Aug. 2 in the role of executive assistant to the president and CEO. In that position, Pickren will provide administrative support to President and CEO Jim Page and coordinate all functions of the chamber’s board of directors, executive committee, foundation, and political action committee.

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She also assists with all aspects of facility operations at the newly established West Alabama Workforce and Community Development Center at the former Regions Bank headquarters in downtown Tuscaloosa, in addition to supporting the chamber’s resource development activities.

Pickren has more than 30 years of office management experience and comes to the chamber from The University of Alabama and after serving as executive administrative assistant at Randall-Reilly for more than eight years.

She will take the place of Alicia Gregory, who was named the chamber’s director of membership engagement in June.

Another high-profile hire will see Alex House take over as the next director of communications for the Chamber on Sept. 1.

In this position, House will be responsible for all communication activities for the Chamber, including media relations and social media engagement. She will also help coordinate all marketing efforts for the Chamber.

House will join the chamber after more than four years of service with the City of Tuscaloosa’s communications department, where she has managed written and visual communications on behalf of the city.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Information Sciences from The University of Alabama and holds multiple professional communications certifications.

House she will fill the role left by Amy Materson, who accepted another local career opportunity in July.

“We are extremely proud to add such highly-qualified and talented individuals to our professional staff,” Page said. “Dianne brings a wealth of office management experience and will be an invaluable partner to our entire volunteer leadership team. Likewise, Alex’s immense skillset will take all of our communications and marketing efforts to the next level."

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