Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce selects Polk County native as next leader
After conducting a national search for its new leader, the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce selected someone who grew up just a few miles to the northeast.
Betsy Cleveland, a Haines City native, has been appointed as president and CEO, the chamber’s board of directors announced Friday afternoon.
Cleveland, 50, will succeed Sara Beth Wyatt, who resigned in June after two years of leading the business organization. She is scheduled to start Aug. 5.
Cleveland served as executive director of the Haines City Area Chamber of Commerce (now called the Northeast Polk Chamber) from 2009 to 2017. During that period, the chamber’s membership increased by more than 100, The Ledger reported.
Since leaving the Haines City Chamber, Cleveland has worked as director of community services for the Polk County Supervisor of Elections and as community liaison director for Polk County Public Schools. She has lived in Winter Haven for about 15 years.
“I feel like I’ve returned home to the Chamber,” Cleveland said Friday. “I did then and have always since I left the Northeast Chamber believed in their mission and their work and advocating for business and commerce. It really is a love of mine. I feel like I’ve come full circle, and I hope to stay there until retirement.”
Cleveland graduated from Haines City High School, earned an associate’s degree from Polk State College and a bachelor’s from Warner Southern (now Warner University). She holds the title of IOM, indicating that she completed the Institute for Organization Management program, administered by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Cleveland is the married mother of an adult son and twins who are seniors in high school.
Earlier in her career, Cleveland worked as a district legislative aide for Florida Sen. J.D. Alexander, a Republican who served from 2002 to 2012.
Cleveland will be the third consecutive woman to lead the chamber since the retirement of Bob Gernert in 2014, following Katie Worthington Decker and Wyatt.
The Winter Haven Chamber chose Wyatt as its leader in 2022, when she was 29.
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“The chamber conducted a nationwide search and received over 45 applications,” Nick Plott, search committee chair and chamber board chair-elect, said in a news release. “We were thrilled that the ideal candidate was someone in Polk County who already knows and loves the Winter Haven community,”
The Winter Haven Chamber reported revenue of about $571,000, expenses of about $545,000 and net assets of $991,000 for the fiscal year ending in September 2022, the most recent period for which a filing with the IRS is publicly available.
The Chamber has five employees and approximately 730 business members, said Brianna Price, vice president of operations, communications and programs.
The Chamber also operates a nonprofit foundation whose mission includes economic development, leadership development, educational support and community beautification.
Gary White can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Winter Haven Chamber picks Polk County native as next leader
