The new executive director of the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce, Daniel Silva, said he would like to see the chamber become a partner to the community, and also to organizations and businesses that belong to the community.
The announcement of Silva as new KCK chamber executive director was made on Tuesday, Dec. 15. He has been in his new role about 15 days, he said, and he is using the first month to focus internally and to focus on strategy for 2016. He said he believes it will be important for the KCK chamber to be a proactive member of the community, a great partner to organizations and businesses here.
He said he plans to listen and learn, and engage with members and learn from them what has worked in the past and what has not.
Silva replaces Jon Stephens, the chamber’s interim director. Silva most recently was director of diversity and inclusion for three years at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce in Kansas City, Mo.
While there, the 38-year-old Silva also oversaw a young professionals group, GENKC, targeted to young professionals ages 21 to 40, and worked on recruitment and retention for this group. He said there will be opportunities here to engage young professionals, as well.
It has been an interesting two days of chamber announcements, with another announcement today that Joe Reardon, former Kansas City, Kan., mayor, will take a position as president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City chamber.
“It’s going to be a good thing for the region,” Silva said.
Silva’s new position differs from his position at the GKC organization in that he is now charged with providing the strategic vision and direction of the entire organization. Instead of working with just one department, he is working with the entire organization and the board, as well as the community and businesses, to ensure the organization is moving in the right direction.
While working on membership expansion and growth is important, it is not what is driving the vision, Silva said. The vision is providing meaningful and authentic interactions and creating authentic relationships and partnerships, he said.
“Our team here is working on great customer service and being a great partner to the business community,” he said. For the first time in a while, the KCK chamber staff is up to full strength again, Silva added.
He said the chamber will be exploring partnership ideas to positively affect Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County.
A native of Chicago, Ill., Silva attended and graduated from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, where he ran track and cross country. He majored in sociology.
He worked for Guadalupe Centers, a Latino social service agency in Kansas City, Mo., and previously with the National Council of La Raza, where he was senior manager under workforce development in Washington, D.C.
One of his roles was liaison to Pepsico North America, a corporate funder for the NCLR organization, a job which he said started leading him down the path of corporate relations. He was working on a project that replicated a national program in cities across the country, and by the time he left, there were eight cities participating.
He was again involved with the business community when he worked at Guadalupe, where he helped create a workforce development program and financial literacy program.
Even though Silva is new to his role as executive director here, he is not new to Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County, and is familiar with some of its neighborhoods and activities. He’s a Sporting Kansas City fan. He said he plans on being an active participant in building on the momentum of development in the community.
“Folks are really looking at KCK and Wyandotte County as the next place to be, and I think that’s exciting,” Silva said.
