Fort Worth Chamber president and CEO Brandom Gengelbach is resigning, the organization said on Tuesday morning.
The chamber didn’t say why.
Mike Berry, president of Hillwood, will take on the positions of CEO and president on an interim basis, according to a press release. The chamber said it will open a nationwide search for a permanent replacement.
“He’s been a tireless cheerleader and advocate for our city’s business community,” chamber board chairwoman Rosa Navejar said in a statement. “We all wish him and his family success in his next endeavor.”
Gengelbach hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment.
Gengelbach joined the chamber in 2016 as executive vice president of economic development and was elevated to CEO in August 2020.
Only weeks ago, the chamber, charged with attracting business to the city, boasted of “racking up” 72 economic development “project wins,” creating 11,400 direct jobs. Citing a recent study, the chamber said it leveraged five years of funding from members and supporters in the amount of more than $25 million into a $2.5 billion capital investment in the chamber’s service area.
“$2.5 billion in capital investment over five years is a tremendous accomplishment,” Gengelbach said in a press release at the time. “The jobs we are creating in this market are the envy of other communities around the country. More than 11,000 people in Fort Worth-Tarrant County have jobs that otherwise would most likely not exist without the Fort Worth Chamber’s involvement. That is something for which our members, supporters, economic development partners, and funders can be extraordinarily proud.”
Gengelbach succeeded retiring CEO Bill Thornton as president in 2020.
Thornton, who worked for 30 years with the chamber, had been CEO and president since 2000, after serving in the economic development post since 1989. The chamber hired Gengelbach as executive vice president of economic development in November 2016. Gengelbach led the chamber’s formation of its new 2018-21 Fortify strategic plan.
“His 18 years of experience with numerous chambers and the strong community relationships he has forged in the Fort Worth region have prepared him to take on this role,” said Lonnie Nicholson, then chairman of the chamber board and CEO of EECU, at the time.
Before coming to Fort Worth, Gengelbach served as president of the public-private Maury County Chamber and Economic Alliance in Columbia, Tenn. He doubled membership while leading a three-year effort in which 2,300 jobs and $158 million in capital investment came to the county, and unemployment dropped to less than 8 percent from 14 percent.
Gengelbach worked previously in organizational development and corporate partnerships for the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, and economic development for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. He also worked for Brisbane Marketing, marketing authority for the Greater Brisbane, Australia, region after taking a sabbatical to Central and South America to learn Spanish.
Gengelbach grew up in Houston and the Plano-Addison area. He holds an MBA from the University of Southampton, England, and received a bachelor’s in journalism from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
