Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Phil Parker to retire

DAYTON — Phil Parker, CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, plans to retire July 31.

“After more than 31 years of service to the organization, first as an active volunteer for four years and then more than 26 years as the CEO, Phil has led the chamber through many of our business community’s critical initiatives and issues,” Mark Williams, of Elements IV chamber board chair, said in a statement.

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Parker leads a staff of 27 and is at the helm of one of the one of the oldest and largest chambers in the U.S., according to the Dayton chamber.

The organization said in a statement that under Parker, the chamber led many transportation initiatives, including the fix of I-75’s ‘malfunction junction’ in downtown Dayton, the Austin Boulevard development, and improvements to US Route 35 and I-70.

The Dayton chamber represents about 2,200 businesses and organizations in a nine county area surrounding Dayton, through a mix of lobbying at different levels of government, leading economic development programs, and hosting networking events and training.

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Parker is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a degree in political science and holds an MBA from the University of Dayton. He was named a Ford Fellow for community sustainability in 2009, is a graduate of Leadership Dayton, Leadership Ohio, and the U. S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management.

He has also been a registered lobbyist for the region since 1990.