SO LONG JANE: Chamber coordinator to retire next week
The person who has long planned, organized and executed events while helping grow a business family on Estero Island is calling it quits next week. Ironically, she will mostly miss the inner group for which she was once one of.
The Greater Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce will be losing one of its star cast members when Member Service and Volunteer Coordinator Jane Ross attends her last official networking event aboard the Pieces of Eight Pirate Ship for a Business After Hours cruise on Thursday, May 21. Chamber officials will be throwing her a goodbye party the night before (5:30 to 7 p.m.) at Pink Shell Beach Resort. Her last major event she worked was last week’s Taste of the Beach.
Ross started employment at the Beach Chamber after an American Sand Sculpting Championship event roughly five years ago. She has been involved in chamber activities for 30 years, starting as a volunteer and ending as supervisor of the valuable helpers.
“It’s a real community family. We have great volunteers, and I have become so close to some of them because they volunteer at every event,” she said. “Some of them are ‘Roxie’ volunteers, some of them are board members, some of them are ambassadors. It is such a tight nucleus.”
The bond has created better financial stability (as past loans get paid off) and increased membership.
“I think we are going in the right direction,” Ross said. “I had no idea (the Chamber) was in such a severe financial situation when I was first employed here. I knew it was tight and there were some problems. Then you hear things and see the notes. We were all worried if we were going to have a job. There was a time when we didn’t know if we were going to make payroll.”
The Indiana native describes the monetary difficulty as a “pit” that had to be crawled out of. She credits FMB Chamber Bud Nocera for finding a long enough rope.
“We’ve all gone through hard times in our own personal lives. And, seeing the chamber crawl out of that pit one step at a time under Bud’s leadership has been enlightening,” she said. “He is so committed to getting this chamber debt-free and clearing up so many misconceptions.”
Ross is originally from Indianapolis. After high school, she attended Indiana University and a vocational school and eventually became a certified Indiana real estate agent.
“I sold real estate for a while and raised a family then moved down here and bought a business,” she said.
Ross moved to Southwest Florida from Georgetown, Ind. roughly 30 years ago. The business she and her then-husband purchased during Memorial Day weekend 1985 was called “Beach Birds” and was located in Bigelow Plaza, now known as Helmerich Plaza. They changed the name to Beach Decorating Center.
“Jo and Walter Hawk sold paint and carpeting. She told me to book a carpet installer one day a month, whether I needed him or not. We went from booking him one day a month to having three installers busy all the time,” Ross said.
The business later changed locations to a larger facility and expanded to selling furniture, flooring and all sorts of accessories.
“We went from a paint store to a complete home decorating center,” she said.
Ross’ first taste of the FMB Chamber occurred soon after.
“Having been active in southern Indiana with real estate, I knew chamber of commerces were valuable to people in businesses, so I joined right away and attended a few networking events,” she said. “But, we were so concentrated on the business at that point. I do still think it helped our business by belonging and getting the door decal. Everyone was quite proud of their Fort Myers Beach Chamber door decal.”
In the early 1990s, Ross decided to travel abroad to Southeast Asia where she settled in Hong Kong and lived in a couple of apartments and on a motor yacht (three years all told) until it was time to return stateside.
Back home, Ross purchased Hidden Harbor Inn on San Carlos Island in 1998.
“As a kid, I dreamed of being in the hotel business. I always wanted to be an innkeeper,” she said. “It was my life’s dream to own a bed & breakfast. My son ran it with me. It was the most expensive hobby I ever had.”
Aside from the financial problem, Ross enjoyed meeting and hosting repeat family customers.
“They still pop in here and look me up,” she said, referring to the chamber office in Key Estero Plaza.
A reuniting with D.J. “Petro” Petruccelli (the longest serving Chamber of Commerce director in the United States who passed away five years ago tomorrow – May 14, 2010) and the Beach Chamber was in the cards. She joined chamber committees, the board of directors and became chairman of the board in 2007. She then latched onto employment with the nonprofit organization in 2010.
“Petro installed the work ethic in me,” Ross said. “It’s a personal thing working here. You either love it or you hate it, and I love it.”
During her years in Southwest Florida, she also held several other jobs, like working at Burdines, cleaning businesses, hostessing and even selling advertising for the Beach Observer at one time.
When asked about her favorite chamber event, Ross replied “Tapa Hop,” the yearly pub crawl featuring appetizers.
“The ambassadors know how to throw a party,” she said. “It has evolved. There are more themes. They are more active with the participants. We went from three to five trolleys.”
On the other end of the spectrum, the biggest challenge she faced was the sand sculpting events. Enduring lengthy stretches of sun and heat during a family holiday can be taxing.
“Ten long days over Thanksgiving,” Ross said quickly.
After the pirate cruise, a trip back to Indiana is in the cards to see her granddaughter graduate from high school. Then she will move to Sanibel with fiance Victor DiLeonard where she will plan her anticipated fall beachfront wedding.
Ross said she will miss the Beach grow with its many expected changes in the future, just like when the island evolved after Hurricane Charley decimated it.
While she may be an island away, there is some speculation that Ross will join both Beach and Sanibel chambers to help her notary business. That is one way for her not to miss the people she has grown to embrace.
“I’ve loved the people I have worked with in the chamber office. The staff is terrific. Bud is a great leader and Doug (McElhany) is like my younger brother,” she said. “I am going to miss all of the volunteers and ambassadors. I am going to miss everybody.”
Murray joins Chamber staff
Rhonda Murray has lived on Fort Myers Beach since 2008. She now joins the FMB Chamber as the Member Services and Events Director.
“Last year, I had an amazing opportunity to spend the year working in Marathon in the Keys for the Marathon Chamber of Commerce,” she stated in the Beach Chamber’s May newsletter. “I look forward to bringing my experience in customer service, sales and event planning to the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce.”
A native of Western New York, Murray is certified in Office Management from Niagara/Orleans Board of Cooperative Education Services and held a job with the Niagara County Department of Social Services, Child Support Office. Other Florida jobs include working at Miami Dade State College, being a code enforcement officer in Hendry County and an account manager for a large construction support company in Fort Myers, where her sales territory afforded travel from Marco Island to Sarasota.
Murray recently completed a class in Social Media Management. She was self-employed as a publisher of an online newsletter for families on the Beach.
“I am very happy to be a part of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber. I value the community of Fort Myers Beach and feel it’s a great opportunity to support our local businesses and organizations,” her newsletter article stated.