Dave Vaughn, General Manager

Yuba-Sutter Disposal, Inc.

The primary duty of the incoming Board Chair is to use this time to become as familiar as possible with all Chamber operations and committees to ensure his or her success as Chairman. Mr. Vaughn, as incoming Chairman for 2009, performs the duties of the Chairman of the Board in his or her absence.

Dave has 24+ years experience in the waste industry and held management positions overseeing a variety of duties. Prior to his current position with Yuba-Sutter Disposal, Inc., Dave was formally the General Manager of South Valley Disposal & Recycling, Inc., as well as a Special Projects Manager for Norcal. Dave also has worked in the publicly traded sector of waste management for Waste Connections as District Manager of Northern California. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Management from the University of Phoenix. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Peach Tree Golf & Country Club and on the Board of Trustees of Sutter North Medical Foundation, and is a member of the Yuba City Rotary.

Darnell Robinson, Community Development Director

Clearinghouse CDFI, Inc.

Internal Operations

Darin Gale, Legislative Advocate

North State Building Industry Association

Government Affairs

Chapman University

Membership Services

Linda Montenegro is the site supervisor for Chapman University College in Yuba City and has a passion for helping students reach their educational goals through Chapman University College, which offers degrees in Organizational Leadership, Psychology, Social Science, Liberal Studies and Criminal Justice. In addition, they offer several credential and degree programs in Education. She  is also a LEAD Y^S alumni and chair of the Y^S Chamber Workforce Development Awards program.

Sue Hudspeth, Co-owner

Hudspeth Corporation

Education & Community Development

Sue Hudspeth is co-owner of Hudspeth Corporation, a general construction company providing quality building services in the Northern California. Sue became actively involved in the Chamber of Commerce in 2003 and has been serving as a member of the Executive Committee for the past 3 years.  She has been Vice Chair for Membership Services and is currently Vice Chair for Education and Community Development.  Sue is involved in many aspects of the Chamber including the Government Affairs Committee and the LEAD Yuba^Sutter program, a community leadership development organization.  As a LEAD Yuba^Sutter alumnus, she participates on the LEAD Steering Committee and is the co-advisor to the class of 2009. Sue is also on the Board of the Yuba-Sutter United Way and volunteers regularly at Linda Elementary School in Linda. She is most proud of her family and stays busy with her husband Lew, three children and three granddaughters.

Bill Simmons

Civic Member

Tourism

Bob Harlan, KUBA Radio, "Talking Things Over"

Bob Harlan has served as Chairman of our board of directors for three separate terms, 1989, 2000, and 2006-2007. He has been General Manager of KUBA Radio since 1982, although recently he has “retired” from that position and will stay with the company to do his daily talk show, Talking Things Over, and as an ambassador to the community. Bob is currently co-chair for the Chamber’s tourism committee, and is chairman of several community organizations including the Business and Community Healthcare Partnership, Looking Out for Our Kids (LOOK), and The Acting Company. Bob and his wife Robyn live in Yuba City. Their son Scott is a junior in college. About the Chamber, Bob says, “This truly is the premier business organization in the mid-valley, providing member services that far surpass their annual membership fees. It’s an honor to have been associated with the Chamber since 1982.”

Bruce Dickinson, Owner

PIP Printing & Document Services

Marketing

Vacant 

Special Events

The Chamber of Commerce recruits and attracts a broad range of community leaders for its board so that it may represent the local business and non-profit community as widely as possible. The Chamber seeks men, women, small and large business owners, the private and public sector, people living and working on both sides of the river, the non-profit community, and diverse business sectors. The 2008 board, as always, is a talented and capable group committed to the Chamber's mission of nurturing conditions conducive to enticing and growing business, understanding that a happy community relies on a healthy economy.

Laura Nicholson, Executive Director / CEO

Laura Nicholson has been the Executive Director/CEO at the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce since July 2003. She serves on the board of the Yuba-Sutter Economic Development Corporation and the Yuba City Rotary Club. She is a member of the Yuba-Sutter Business Consortium and assists business-related groups in the community such as the Yuba-Sutter Employer Advisory Council. She has been a member of the Yuba City Rotary Club since 1999, serving as President in 2006-2007. She is also the immediate-past President of the Covillaud Elementary School Site Council, and continues to serves as a Community Representative. She has worked with the Beale Joint Land Use Study, Operation Save Beale and Help Ellis Lake Prosper. She comes to the Chamber from the Appeal-Democrat, where she worked for 11 years, including four years as Editor.

Mandy Jones, Membership Director

Mandy Jones came to work as the Membership Director for the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce in August, 2006. Before the Chamber Mandy worked in Outside Sales and Marketing for Sam's Club in Yuba City. She can honestly testify to the benefits of Chamber membership by formerly being a member of the Chambers of Commerce in Yuba-Sutter and Oroville. Moving to the area in 1997, Mandy lives in Yuba City with her husband and has 3 grown children. She serves on the Board of the Iles Academy of Golf for Kids, Appeal-Democrat Reader Advisory Board, Yuba City Centennial Committee, Beale Military Liaison Committee and is a member of the Peach Tree Lane Church of Christ. She enjoys reading cookbooks, entertaining, golf and traveling.

Evelyn Cosner, Office Coordinator

Evelyn moved to Yuba City in 1977 for a position teaching vocal and classroom music for Yuba City Unified School District. She then worked for several years for Pratt & Lambert/Universe Paint in Marysville and then in the job placement department at Yuba College where she performed local labor market analyses for CalWORKs. She has been at the Chamber since 2000. Her husband is a small business owner. She conducted the very first choir at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, served on the board of the Acting Company, started a for-profit children’s music theater with Pedro Award winner Pat Hill and Andrea Berkstresser, and now serves on the board of Hands of Hope: Resources for Homeless Families. She has played piano for many local musicals over the years.

Caprice A. Jones, Office Assistant

Caprice came to the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce as a temporary employee through The Plus Group (formerly known as Archer Personnel) in March 2002. Prior to that, she lived and worked in Winnemucca, for two and a half years working in a property management office. She was hired at the Chamber permanently three months later and has been the Office Assistant since then. Caprice is a continuing student at Yuba College, through the aid of the Chamber’s Workforce Development Award, and will graduate in 2009 with two AS Degrees in Administrative Assistant and Word Processing. Among her many duties, Caprice maintains the information on the Chamber’s newest community and visitor resource, www.visityubasutter.com.