As of this month, two new Chamber positions have been filled by one person. Katherine Swartz has left after four years as the member services director for the S.C. Association of CPAs (SCACPA). She is the new two–slots executive at the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce. One title is vice president of Leadership Training and Community Involvement, and as such she will head up Leadership Columbia, its LC Alumni Association, and a new program, Leadership Columbia Graduate School. Her other title is executive director of Columbia Opportunity Resource (COR).

Combining the two positions, Swartz, 32 years old, is expected to identify and involve mostly young professionals like herself in community leadership positions including nonprofit boards. As Ike McLeese, Chamber CEO, put it:

“This will give our region a bright new group of community leaders and a very competitive advantage in recruiting the best and brightest young talent from elsewhere. It also improves our ability to keep those who are already working here or studying at one of our colleges and universities. As Richard Florida indicates

in his book The Rise of

the Creative Class, communities that figure out how to attract and keep the young professional class will be the winners in the new economy, and those who don’t will be losers.”

A native Columbian, Swartz attended two elementary schools, Lonnie B. Nelson and North Springs. Her middle school was Summit, and she graduated high school from Richland Northeast.

Her father’s career is with SCANA. Her mother is a retired teacher. Her sister, 18 months younger, runs the Sexual Assault Center (SAC) in Nashville, Tenn.

Her high school years also saw Swartz develop as a contemporary dancer, learning under Pam Bailey and the dance company at Bailey Fine Arts. Her dance muscles have served her well on the tennis court. Swartz plays competitively as a ranked member of the Lexington Area Tennis Association.

The fall after finishing high school, Swartz entered the video broadcasting program at USC, but she shifted to public relations as her major.

During her senior year, her pre–professional internship was with the state’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT). Swartz worked with the events team that put together the 2000 Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Travel.

Practically the day after graduation at USC, Swartz was on the road to Atlanta and her first full–time job. She went to work with the Georgia Utility Contractors Association in their PR arm. She stayed in the PR field and moved on to the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and then Camp Kudzu, looking after kids with Type 1 diabetes and their parents.

In 2006, Swartz returned to Columbia to work with SCACPA, where she stayed until this month’s move to the chamber.

Swartz’s new COR position is an extension of several years as a volunteer. COR started in 2005, and Swartz came on board in 2006 when she moved back to Columbia to work with the CPAs. She was the board chair at COR, 2008–2009, and as of 2010 she became their development chair. As part of her COR activity, Swartz became a team leader with the Columbia Talent Magnet Project.

Swartz and her COR contemporaries traveled to Memphis, Tenn. to study Impact Memphis, a successful guide to follow in organizing COR and out- reaching for effective membership. PULSE in Greenville also had plenty to teach the COR start–up crew.

Swartz is on a three–year rotation as a board member at the Good to Great Foundation and a four–year rotation as a member of the Chamber’s Strategic Advisory Committee.

Swartz, a goal–driven Certified Association Executive (CAE), has her tentative early plans for her two new positions at the Chamber. She’s already working on her 6–12–18–month goals, but the CAE won’t let that go public for a little while.