Photo courtesy of Botetourt Chamber of Commerce
By Matt de Simone
The Botetourt County Chamber of Commerce announced in a press release last Wednesday that it has named Jacqui Sobieski as its new Executive Director, concluding what it described as an extensive, months-long search that included a background investigation, reference checks, multiple interviews, and a full evaluation by the Chamber’s search committee. The board of directors approved her appointment on Dec. 9.
Sobieski, who steps into the role as the Chamber enters what board leadership called “a new chapter,” said she is eager to help Botetourt businesses— especially small businesses— navigate both the opportunities and challenges of a fast-growing county. Her background includes three decades in financial services with Fannie Mae, Bank of America, and T. Rowe Price, as well as small-business ownership since 2018 as co-owner of Virginia Mountain Vineyards in Fincastle.
In an interview last week, Sobieski said her experience in both large institutions and small business gives her a dual perspective she expects will guide her leadership.
“On the one hand, the business experience, working in financial services, working in environment, where I developed business skills around strategy, priorities, managing large scale endeavors, as well as particularly in financial industries, process, controls, transparency of information, all of those things, I think, prepared me well for the services that I think the board is looking for in this role,” she said. “On the other hand, working a small business, I tell people it’s the hardest job I’ve had because it certainly made me much more insightful as to the challenges of small businesses… trying to juggle all of that as well as, I think, one of the biggest challenges we found was getting access to information for small businesses.
“There’s a lot of it out there, but you don’t necessarily have the time and capacity to be spending a lot of time, you know, just calling through all that information. So, trying to understand how the Chamber could provide services to make that much more efficient for small businesses, I think, could be really beneficial.”
Sobieski said one of her early priorities will be understanding how Botetourt can manage growth while preserving the rural character that residents value. “I think that’ll be one of the things that I will work to understand first and foremost, which is really understanding what’s unique about Botetourt, what the community wants to retain, about its character, how it sees itself in the future, and then balancing that with, okay, growth is here and it’s coming, but how can that growth be managed?” Sobieski said. “Every step of the way, you need to consider what you’re evolving to… I’ve lived in other areas where growth seemed to be, at least it seemed to be unmanaged. And you do, you lose the character of why people were attracted there in the first place. So, I absolutely believe there’s the way to balance that.”
Her experience running the vineyard has also given her insight into the needs of small firms, particularly around collaboration and tourism. “This area seems, it’s so beautiful… they’re always asking us, what else is there to do here?” she said of the vineyard’s visitors. “I think we could do a lot more helping small businesses collaborate with each other to become more of a destination, a tourist destination… all of those things that I just talked about are small businesses typically. So, a way to create more collaboration, which would attract many more customers, I think.”
Sobieski said she was drawn to the job in part because she remembered the challenges of being a new business owner seeking support. “We immediately joined the Chamber and we were looking for more access to, you know, help understanding the business community. And we struggled, really, to get that help,” she said.
She later saw changes within the Chamber that aligned with what she had once hoped to find. “When I saw the changes in the Chamber and the new leadership and what they were trying to do, I said, boy, that’s what we needed in 2018… in a growing county like Botetourt with all the new businesses coming in, you really have to run it more professionally and you have to have management in place that knows how to really be responsive to the members as well as really accountable.”
The Chamber’s emphasis on partnership also appealed to her. “I thought, boy, that combination really could be powerfully powerful and impactful in the ways that I was looking for when we first got here,” she said, adding later, “And then, of course, I thought I could help.”
As she begins her tenure, Sobieski said she plans to spend significant time listening to businesses of all sizes. “I think I have a lot of listening ahead of me in this initial period so that I can be truly sensitized to what the members see as priorities,” she said.
Larger employers, she noted, may focus on workforce needs, while small businesses often have more varied challenges. “The last thing we want to do is just, you know, bring them in and talk at them and not fully understand what’s going to make the difference for them,” she said. “How do we create help them, enable them to create partnerships with people who could really benefit expand their business… I need some more input to make sure we dial it and focus on the right things to have an impact quickly.”
Board President William Nelms said the Chamber is confident in her ability to guide the organization forward, calling her “the right leader for our members and the broader business community.” Sobieski, for her part, said she is honored to step into the role and looks forward to working closely with the county’s business community to support growth and opportunity across Botetourt County.
