FWKCC pours on the FUEL for young professionals
Katie Park of SouthEast Bank and Jonathan Dzermejko of TDS Telecom are heading up the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce’s newly-launched Focus, Unite, Engage and Lead program, and were pictured at the group’s inaugural event Wednesday, May 1, in The Casual Pint in Farragut.
The program Focus, Unite, Engage, Lead grew out of the Chamber’s Board of Directors’ own strategic retreat planning event earlier this year, FWKCC president/CEO Julie Blaylock said.
“A lot of Chambers across the country are starting young professionals groups,” she said. “Our Board discussed it and decided it was something they wanted to pursue.
“You look around the room at different events and feel you see a good mix of different age groups, but mainly I think we are pretty heavy on the 35-and-up group, and I feel we have to do a better job of encouraging younger membership,” Blaylock added. “There is an ongoing trend wherein younger professionals do not necessarily feel the need to join a Chamber or other membership associations like the generations before them have, but we offer so many benefits that can help them succeed and we want to get the word out about that.”
Stepping up to lead the initiative were two Board members from that targeted demographic, Jonathan Dzermejko of TDS Telecom and Katie Park of SouthEast Bank.
“I’m honored to have been chosen to serve the local community in this way,” said Park, who is in her first year of Board service.
She believed as a corporate events specialist, she could “get behind and hopefully use my skills set to create events that are fun and something people want to come to.”
To that end, Park and Dzermejko hosted the first FUEL networking Monday, May 1, at The Casual Pint in Farragut, which was attended by several dozen interested individuals.
“It was extremely successful, and we were absolutely thrilled with the strong turnout,” Dzermejko said.
“We will definitely be focused on making the Young Professionals Networking a regularly-scheduled event,” he added.
