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Cynthia Pankala's last day as chamber director was last Friday. The Attica resident had been in the position for three months.

A business coach and consultant, Pankala said Monday she felt the chamber hired her for her expertise in that area and received it. Pankala is leaving to devote more time to her home business.

"I think there was a lot of rebuilding to make an assessment," she said. "Every business is going through a phase. The board and myself think my mission is complete. What I did for them for 90 days was set up a template to go forward."

Ken Swanstrom, president of the Imlay City Area Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that Pankala's resignation is something that wasn't desired.

"I think I can speak for the entire board when I say we felt saddened by the news; however, our chamber board and Cynthia remain on the best of terms," he said. "It is important for us as a chamber to keep a positive outlook on our future in these tough economic times. We have a long standing history of helping and assisting our membership over the years. A new and revised set of goals and objectives were set by our chamber board at the end of last year and we feel we were on the right track.

"I believe our time with Cynthia as executive director has shown us areas that we can improve our efforts. I expect that we all keep a positive outlook. We wish Cynthia only the best in the future and thank her for the efforts she put forth towards improvements of our chamber of commerce in a very short time."

Pankala said during her time in heading the chamber, the quest for more volunteerism in Imlay City took place, especially with the Blueberry Festival.

"I really believe in Lapeer County and Imlay City," she said. "I think Imlay City has potential and promise. It's a great group of people."

Prior to Pankala becoming chamber director, Yvonne Wilson served in the position in an interim capacity. Before her, Sally Reinhardt was chamber director.

Pankala's departure comes on the heels of Imlay City Downtown Development Authority Director Brad Barrett's leaving to assume a position at Oakland University in government relations.

Swanstrom added the chamber board will meet this week to discuss the next steps it will take in working toward its revised goals and objectives with the purpose of continuing to better serve Imlay City businesses and the community.

Jennifer Decker can be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com.