Mary Poché will join the Salado Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau as the new Executive Director at the end of October 2015.

She will be returning to her Central Texas roots after two years as Executive Director of the Decatur Economic Development Corporation.

During her time in Decatur she and her team supported local business through a retention and expansion program.  Retail support was a specific focus and it included programs and training geared to business growth.

She was also successful in the recruitment of a desired hotel to the city’s Civic Center complex which is scheduled to break ground in early 2016.  This was a jump start to the re-branding of the complex in conjunction with the hotel’s marketing assistance as a Conference Center, thus allowing the securing of multi-day events including regional trade shows and corporate meetings previously not possible.

Poché has many years of experience in private and nonprofit enterprises specific to events including the successful development and execution of dental office design conferences in strategic U.S. cities, citywide Christmas events, symphony and theater galas and wine festivals.

Prior to working in Decatur, Poché was the Assistant Director of a 4B economic development organization in the Austin suburb of Pflugerville.

While at the Pflugerville Community Development Corporation, she led the business recruitment and marketing program and enjoyed engaging with the business community to support them in various ways including collaborating with the Chamber and other city entities for a “Come Home to Shop” campaign.

She managed many award-winning marketing campaigns that included integrated marketing and public relations strategies resulting in Pflugerville being named by Money Magazine in their Top 100 fastest growing mid-size cities.

Previous to her Pflugerville position, Poche’ served as Director of Marketing for the Temple Economic Development Corporation in Central Texas.

In this role she worked specifically in marketing the Parks at Central Pointe.