Greeley Area Chamber president announces retirement at group’s 100th anniversary dinner

GREELEY — Sarah MacQuiddy, president of the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce, announced her retirement Thursday evening during the chamber’s annual dinner.

The dinner, which celebrated the chamber’s 100th anniversary, drew a record 1,056 attendees.

MacQuiddy will step down from the leadership position she has held for 15 years on June 30 in order to spend more time with family, she said. 

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“You can’t do this job and have this much going on in this community without the most amazing team in the whole world,” she said. “… There aren’t enough thank-yous to say.”

Retirement is something she said she’s been thinking about for several years.

“It’s been one of those things where you think to yourself, ‘I need to pay a little bit more attention to what’s going on at home,'” MacQuiddy said. “My pooches miss me. Now we will be able to load up the motor coach and travel around going to dog shows and have some fun.”

LeeAnn Sterling, the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce’s fun and engagement director, said, “This region is really losing someone remarkable who is committed to Greeley and Weld County.”

While she’s excited about retirement, MacQuiddy said she’ll miss her position with the chamber.

“No one has an opportunity to connect with more business folks than the chamber president,” MacQuiddy said. “To get to know our business community so intimately is something I’m going to miss.”

MacQuiddy said stabilizing the chamber’s finances is one of the most important accomplishments achieved during her tenure as president.

“We’ve taken the chamber from not really having any reserves to being in a financial position where we can do so many different projects and expand the depth and breadth of what we do,” she said.

It is not yet known who will succeed MacQuiddy as the Greeley Area Chamber leader.

“We’ve got an amazing board, and they’re going to have to determine what they’re looking for,” MacQuiddy said.

Sterling said the chamber board’s executive committee would be well-served to look for a replacement “who is as smart, intelligent, politically astute and who has a heart of gold like Sarah MacQuiddy.”

“I hope we can find that person for our community,” she said.

MacQuiddy isn’t the only member of chamber leadership departing. Steve Baker of Sears Real Estate and Dan Weaver of the University of Northern Colorado are retiring from the board of directors and were recognized at Thursday’s event.