Chapin, SC (Paul Kirby) – Karen Owens, the town of Chapin’s Director of Communication and Economic Development, has tendered her resignation. She will work out a notice through the end of the month.
Owens came to the town from the Greater Chapin Area Chamber of Commerce. She held the title of Executive Director at the Chamber in a job she had for 18 months. Prior to her tenure with the Chamber she owned her own consulting and marketing firm.
During her time with the Chamber that organization saw a 32% increase in membership. It also had a 10% increase in paid sponsorships. She also updated the meeting and educational schedule and upgraded their website, record keeping, and IT programs.
After coming to work for the town, she oversaw the improvement of several key IT programs including an upgrade of the systems that automated and helped keep up with and increased business license revenues. She was in charge of a major upgrade of the town’s website so that it included up-to-date information of the town’s calendar, its meeting schedules and agendas, and financial information.
Owens was also key in implementing the town’s Farmer’s Market that brought local vendors, arts, and entertainment to the downtown each month during the spring and summer. She also helped to make the annual Labor Day Festival a revenue generating event instead of one that the town had to invest in each year without a return on that investment.
Owens said during a recent interview that she especially enjoyed helping to building a sense of community that was shared with people both inside and outside the town’s limits. “We worked hard to establish the town’s Facebook and other social media presences so that people had more ways to know what was happening,” Owens said. She also called the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast a real blessing to her personally and the community in general. That breakfast often had nationally renowned speakers like former USC Football Chaplain Adrian Despres who attended and conducted a portion of the events.
Owens said that she has been offered a job with the State of SC that was too good to pass on. “I saw the Chapin job as a door that the Lord had opened, and I look at this move in the same light. It’s just another season, and for every season there is a time,” she said. “Right now, the time was right for this change.”
Owen's last day in Chapin is December 30th.
