Cobb County will have a new face representing it heading into 2018.
Cobb Chamber voted Tuesday to make Sharon Mason its new CEO starting Jan. 1. The agency said she was selected after a national search.
Mason has been with Cobb Chamber a decade. She takes over from David Connell, who is retiring after seven years in the role.
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“I know as a business community we can achieve great things by working together to advance a vibrant economy,” Mason said in the announcement. “It is important that we continue to offer programs and services that are beneficial to our members, while also addressing the education, workforce and business climate needs of our community.”
The national search, led by Rob Garcia of Synovus Financial Corp., began in August and had a board of 10 members, including new county manger Rob Hosack and recent Marietta City Schools superintendent Grant Rivera. There were also leaders from fields like insurance, healthcare and law.
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Gary Bottoms, chairman of the Chamber board, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that 21 people applied. The applicant who would have had the longest move lives in Arizona. He said most were from metro Atlanta.
He said they whittled it down to eight and then four people before making the decision.
Bottoms said that, independent of each other, all 10 selected Mason.
She has also held leadership positions with MUST Ministries, Marietta Rotary Foundation and Friends for the East Cobb Park, according to Cobb Chamber.
She is a graduate of Samford University in Alabama and worked for the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce.
She, her husband and their daughter are active at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta.
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