Austin Chamber Taps Laura Huffman As New President, CEO

AUSTIN, TX — The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce on Thursday announced the hiring of Laura Huffman as president and CEO.

In taking the chamber reins, Huffman replaces longtime chamber head Mike Rollins, who announced his plans to retire last year. Huffmann, who formerly served as state director at The Nature Conservancy and an assistant city manager in Austin, is scheduled to begin her new chamber role on April 20.

Craig Enoch, chairman of the chamber board of directors and member of the Enoch Kever law firm, noted the historic times amid which Huffman will join the chamber: “Laura is taking the reins at a moment of profound and unprecedented economic challenges facing the greater Austin area, and her talent, experience, and innovative spirit will be essential to helping us navigate these uncertain economic times and lead our community toward recovery and a prosperous future,” Enoch said in a prepared statement.

He noted some key attributes Huffman brings to the chamber at a critical historical juncture given the temporary halt of commerce prompted by pandemic. Businesses have either closed or re-pivoted their delivery systems in adherence to physical distance protocol designed to blunt the spread of respiratory illness.

“Laura is a proven and forward-thinking leader who is well regarded throughout the Austin community and has a keen understanding of local, state, and national business and policy," Enoch said. "She is a great choice to lead the chamber.”

During her time as the Texas state director for The Nature Conservancy, Huffman was a leading advocate in bringing together businesses and community-based land and water preservation organizations to help preserve our communities’ natural resources, chamber officials described. She was nationally recognized for her work creating the Nature Conservancy’s Cities Program, officials added.

Huffman also served as assistant city manager in both Austin and San Marcos. While in Austin, she negotiated Austin’s 100-year water deal with the Lower Colorado River Authority, led contract negotiations with public safety unions, and worked to modernize the city’s economic development agenda.

That breadth of experience will enable Huffman to "hit the ground running," chamber officials said, leveraging the chamber’s economic expertise — and working with its unparalleled network of innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders — to support the community through the pandemic and assist the economic restart.

As she prepared for her new role, Huffman struck an optimistic tone in cutting through the fog of uncertainty pandemic has yielded: “Now more than ever, our community needs to come together — and as soon as the threat of the coronavirus passes, our people will need to get back to work, and our businesses will need to reopen their doors," she said in a prepared statement. "No one is better positioned to help achieve these goals than the chamber."

She added: “It’s an honor to be asked to lead this organization at this critical time. We’ll do all we can to lift up our people, restore the jobs, rebuild the businesses, and reinvigorate the communities that make Central Texas special.”

Outgoing President and CEO Mike Rollins added his praise for the appointment, invoking his past collaboration with Huffmann on chamber matters: “It’s been my pleasure to work with Laura on countless issues on which her expertise and leadership helped make Austin a better place. I’m grateful that this organization — and the rest of the city — will benefit from her talents.”

Adding his praise, Brian Cassidy, the immediate past Board Chair of the Chamber and the current Managing Partner of the Austin office of Locke Lord, LLP who led the search committee that resulted in Huffman’s selection, said: “We were fortunate to have national interest in this position, and we had some incredibly talented candidates to consider. But Laura stood out. She is energized by the hard problems, knows this region’s issues, and has a rare talent for bringing together the diverse talents required to solve them.”

For good measure, Gary Farmer, chairman of Opportunity Austin and president of Heritage Title Company of Austin, spoke of Huffman's forward-thinking role in creating a robust economic development program even amid lean economic times.

“When the chamber was crafting a new and innovative economic development program in response to the severe downturn in the 2001-2003 era, Laura proved to be a critical player in developing a robust economic development policy at the City of Austin," Farmer said in a prepared statement. "Laura was a thoughtful and strategic partner as we launched Opportunity Austin. Thankfully, Laura will again be in a critical position to help address new challenges for workers and businesses alike.”

With an extensive background leading large organizations, Huffman will work with chamber staff, Executive Committee, board members and other volunteers to support programs and policies "...that make greater Austin businesses thrive and enable their employees to prosper," the chamber said. Helping the region respond to and recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic will be a top priority, along with seeking solutions to challenges such as job creation, transportation, workforce development, and homelessness, as well as opportunities that range from military innovation to health care reinvention, according to the chamber's prepared statement.

Sen. Kirk Watson also lauded the appointment while expressing confidence of Huffman's future navigation as she takes over the chamber steering wheel: "Laura has been an asset in this community for so long, it’s honestly hard to imagine where we’d be without her,” Watson, who served as Austin’s mayor from 1997-2001, said in a prepared statement. “She’s smart, kind and creative. She’s willing to listen to new ideas and think differently. She cares about people and understands how they’ve been hit by this crisis. She’s exactly the kind of person Austin needs in this position at this unprecedented point in its history. She’s a first-rate leader.”

About the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce

The chamber describes itself as a nonprofit membership organization with a mission of helping to create jobs so people can find work and provide for their families. It invests in a broad range of programs that build, support, and diversify Austin’s regional economy. "We are the Chamber," officials wrote. "Our mission is prosperity."