Chamber History

1957 – 1967

The KMO Chamber was founded June 20, 1957, just 2 years after the City of Kettering, by a group of businessmen. It was, as it is today, primarily a networking organization. The Kettering Chamber was the only suburban chamber in the Dayton area. We had members from surrounding communities, particularly Centerville. By 1967, the Chamber boasted a membership of over 150 businesses. The first decade of the Chamber was a steady growth mode. The Chamber employed an executive director named Ms. Beryl Gavin-Ketchen. Under her leadership, a Career Conference Day was instituted in cooperation with the YWCA and Kiwanis. In addition, a Scholarship Award Program was created for those entering vocational fields. The Chamber was instrumental in assisting the Kettering Museum and Historical Society raise funds to restore the Deeds Barn.

1967 - 1977

Right around 1970 the Chamber had some trouble financially. We experienced a reduction of about half the membership. The light at the end of the tunnel was that this forced the Chamber to search for a new director and was truly blessed with the discovery of Evelyn Ferguson. She began with the Chamber in 1973 in a part time capacity serving 89 members.

1977 – 1987

It wasn’t long before Evelyn became a full time Executive Director for the Chamber. She attended the US Chamber of Commerce six-year Institute for Organizational Management program. Mrs. Ferguson expanded the Chamber's member benefits beyond board meetings to include programs like Chamber Business Luncheons; Business After hours and even hosted a TV show for a few years.

1987 – 1997

Mrs. Ferguson resigned her post with the Kettering Chamber in 1990. She left our Chamber in a very sound financial position with 325 members. We made her an honorary member of the Chamber ans she still attends functions periodically. Maureen Patterson was hired in March of 1991.

Maureen served as Executive Director for four years making a really tremendous impact. In 1992, the Board of Directors discussed the demographic of the Chamber and realized the cities of Moraine and Oakwood had a large number of businesses that were members of the Kettering Chamber. Soon there after, City council approval was given to include Moraine and Oakwood in the name. With the help of Kettering Medical Center and 5 other suburban Chambers, the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance was formed to provide a healthcare alliance. Maureen increased member programs with The Taste, Annual Golf Outing and Enterprise Spirit Awards. Maureen grew the Chamber membership in those four years to over 550 tendering her resignation in January 1995.

1997-2007

Executive Director Michelle Hughes grew membership to 700 members and added several new member benefits through working with the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance. She also added the Chamber Nite at the Fraze, and the Women in Business Networking Luncheons, which started with a small group of women.

Ann-Lisa Rucker started with the Chamber in 2001 and started serving the Board as Executive Director in 2003. Ann-Lisa introduced several new membership programs and benefits to include SCORE seminars, The Collaborative, merchant service discounts, automobile rental discounts, RoadRunner service savings, and P&R Communication’s “Chamber Change.” She grew membership to over 850 and was instrumental in The Taste and golf outing reaching record numbers in 2005. Ann-Lisa combined the Enterprise Spirit Awards with the annual holiday program to create KudosMilestonesOvations, a celebration of Chamber member successes and accomplishments throughout the year.

June 20, 2007 marked the Chamber’s 50th anniversary.