15/Jan/2009
Lisa Rioux is Moving On Zachary Chamber Manager Departs To Assist Dist. 1 Councilman Welch
What started as a part-time job in her hometown 13 years ago became much more than that for Zachary Chamber of Commerce Manager Lisa Rioux.
“I took the job a dozen years ago because it was 9 to 3 and it worked with the kids’ school schedule,” explained Rioux who will leave the Zachary Chamber in January to become legal assistant to new District One Metro Councilman Trae Welch. “The Chamber has tripled in size right along with Zachary, however. Now most days I have more than a full time job.”
For example, Rioux and the Zachary Chamber are working hard on Z Fest these days, which is similar to a church fair but much bigger. Z Fest 2009 is set for March 11-15.
Until she started working for the Zachary Chamber of Commerce, the only brush Rioux had with any Chamber was when someone suggested she call the Gatlinburg, Tenn. Chamber before going there on her honeymoon. “That’s the way it is here in Zachary. Everybody calls the Chamber for everything,” she said. “We get calls from students doing research projects, from people who are looking for a good place to buy stuff and if somebody’s sewer backs up, they call.”
Bedroom Community
Zachary has always been pretty rural and the town was and is a bedroom community for Baton Rouge, explained Rioux. “But we have always had an excellent school system and that is why so many new people are moving here.”
Rioux explained that students were never bussed out of Zachary to schools in Baton Rouge because the Zachary school system was desegregated very early.
“The Justice Department allowed us to break away and become our own Zachary school system simply because we had already been desegregated for a long time,” she said. “After two years we became the top school system in Louisiana.”
Today Zachary Chamber has 307 members. Thirteen years ago there were only 100. “The number of businesses has tripled and so has Zachary’s population,” said Rioux. “Because of the schools we have many young families moving in and it is really wonderful. Northwest Elementary opened this year. Copper Mill Elementary opened at capacity two years ago and we are nearly doubling its size right now.”
Of course, with people comes commerce. Now the day has arrived when a family can do all of their shopping in Zachary. “We want everyone to Shop Zachary FIRST,” she said. “Our local businesses have always been wonderfully supportive of our city, our Zachary schools and our Zachary Chamber. Zachary is just like one big family.”
Hurricane Katrina
Rioux said her most exciting time as Chamber manager came following Hurricane Katrina. “The Zachary community responded beautifully with help and cash donations,” she said. “People were calling and asking ‘What can we do?’ It was wonderful from an experience standpoint.”
Rioux said the people arriving in Zachary after Katrina were mostly from New Orleans and they were scared. “Many were elderly and they really did not know where they were. Whole families were sleeping in their cars until we could get them into shelters,” explained Rioux. “It was strictly church to church. I know of one city employee who paid for diabetic meds for a complete stranger out of his own pocket.”
Rioux said at one point the Red Cross actually called her for help. “We were buying bus tickets to Houston for people left and right,” she said. “One day the phone rang and it was the Red Cross asking if we could buy some bus tickets for them. They had cash but buying bus tickets involved a whole lot of red tape for them. They just gave us the money, and we bought the bus tickets for them to distribute.”
Looking to the Future
Rioux said she has had a lot of fun working with the Zachary Chamber. However, she is looking forward to her new challenge. “It will broaden my horizons. I will be commuting to Baton Rouge three days a week,” Rioux said.
Rioux and her husband Tim have two children. The oldest, Adam, works as a federal agent with the Border Patrol in New Mexico, and daughter Morgan is a computer science student at Baton Rouge Community College. She also works for Gulf Coast Aerial Mapping. Tim Rioux works with the Louisiana State Department of Corrections.
The Board of Directors of the Zachary Chamber of Commerce began searching for Rioux’s successor during December.
What started as a part-time job in her hometown 13 years ago became much more than that for Zachary Chamber of Commerce Manager Lisa Rioux.“I took the job a dozen years ago because it was 9 to 3 and it worked with the kids’ school schedule,” explained Rioux who will leave the Zachary Chamber in January to become legal assistant to new District One Metro Councilman Trae Welch. “The Chamber has tripled in size right along with Zachary, however. Now most days I have more than a full time job.”
For example, Rioux and the Zachary Chamber are working hard on Z Fest these days, which is similar to a church fair but much bigger. Z Fest 2009 is set for March 11-15.
Until she started working for the Zachary Chamber of Commerce, the only brush Rioux had with any Chamber was when someone suggested she call the Gatlinburg, Tenn. Chamber before going there on her honeymoon. “That’s the way it is here in Zachary. Everybody calls the Chamber for everything,” she said. “We get calls from students doing research projects, from people who are looking for a good place to buy stuff and if somebody’s sewer backs up, they call.”
Bedroom Community
Zachary has always been pretty rural and the town was and is a bedroom community for Baton Rouge, explained Rioux. “But we have always had an excellent school system and that is why so many new people are moving here.”
Rioux explained that students were never bussed out of Zachary to schools in Baton Rouge because the Zachary school system was desegregated very early.
“The Justice Department allowed us to break away and become our own Zachary school system simply because we had already been desegregated for a long time,” she said. “After two years we became the top school system in Louisiana.”
Today Zachary Chamber has 307 members. Thirteen years ago there were only 100. “The number of businesses has tripled and so has Zachary’s population,” said Rioux. “Because of the schools we have many young families moving in and it is really wonderful. Northwest Elementary opened this year. Copper Mill Elementary opened at capacity two years ago and we are nearly doubling its size right now.”
Of course, with people comes commerce. Now the day has arrived when a family can do all of their shopping in Zachary. “We want everyone to Shop Zachary FIRST,” she said. “Our local businesses have always been wonderfully supportive of our city, our Zachary schools and our Zachary Chamber. Zachary is just like one big family.”
Hurricane Katrina
Rioux said her most exciting time as Chamber manager came following Hurricane Katrina. “The Zachary community responded beautifully with help and cash donations,” she said. “People were calling and asking ‘What can we do?’ It was wonderful from an experience standpoint.”
Rioux said the people arriving in Zachary after Katrina were mostly from New Orleans and they were scared. “Many were elderly and they really did not know where they were. Whole families were sleeping in their cars until we could get them into shelters,” explained Rioux. “It was strictly church to church. I know of one city employee who paid for diabetic meds for a complete stranger out of his own pocket.”
Rioux said at one point the Red Cross actually called her for help. “We were buying bus tickets to Houston for people left and right,” she said. “One day the phone rang and it was the Red Cross asking if we could buy some bus tickets for them. They had cash but buying bus tickets involved a whole lot of red tape for them. They just gave us the money, and we bought the bus tickets for them to distribute.”
Looking to the Future
Rioux said she has had a lot of fun working with the Zachary Chamber. However, she is looking forward to her new challenge. “It will broaden my horizons. I will be commuting to Baton Rouge three days a week,” Rioux said.
Rioux and her husband Tim have two children. The oldest, Adam, works as a federal agent with the Border Patrol in New Mexico, and daughter Morgan is a computer science student at Baton Rouge Community College. She also works for Gulf Coast Aerial Mapping. Tim Rioux works with the Louisiana State Department of Corrections.
The Board of Directors of the Zachary Chamber of Commerce began searching for Rioux’s successor during December.
