Metro North Chamber of Commerce has taken a significant step toward implementation of its growth plan in the north Denver area by hiring Angela Habben to serve as the organization’s new president and chief executive officer.
She has worked most recently as vice president and relationship manager for Vectra Wealth Management at Vectra Bank Colorado. She has spent the last 36 years in the banking industry in various capacities. Habben will begin her new assignment at the Metro North Chamber on Sept. 29.
The chamber’s board of directors considered dozens of applicants for the CEO position, finally landing on Habben largely due to the way her work at Vectra Bank dovetails with the needs of the chamber.
“When we considered her experience, her skills and her personality, it was clear to us that we had an ideal candidate,” said chamber chair Jennifer Alderfer. “Someone who could come to work on her first day and immediately begin the pursuit of the chamber’s mission.”
Habben noted that her previous work required her to engage with the community and find ways to help improve business people’s effectiveness.
“I decided I wanted to expand my professional horizons, and this seemed like the place that I could maximize those efforts,” she said. “I believe my experience in the area of building business relationships will suit the chamber well as we strengthen the chamber’s role in helping the community to grow and develop.”
Habben is only the third CEO at MNCC in the last 20 years. She replaces Deborah Obermeyer, who resigned in May. Shiley Johnson had served as interim CEO, and he will resume his position as director of information and public policy at the chamber.
“I am thrilled to know that we will be working with somebody of Angela’s caliber in such an important position during the coming years,” said MNCC chair-elect Troy Whitmore. “I think this addition to the chamber’s staff sends a clear signal to the leaders and business people of the metro north area that this organization will have significant input into the ways that the community moves into the future.”