A pillar of the local religious community recently switched hats to become Gilroy’s chief shepherd of commerce.
In an emotional moment, Mark Turner, associate pastor of South Valley Community Church for more than a decade, choked up when he announced to his congregation Sunday he would be stepping down from his ministry role to become the CEO of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce.
“Over the years I have served in many different ways through the church, and I learned that my heart’s desire is for this community,” Turner said from his new office at the Chamber’s Monterey Street headquarters in downtown.
The Chamber’s 12-member board voted unanimously to hire Turner as a replacement for former CEO Susan Valenta, who is retiring after holding the position for 20 years. On Tuesday, Valenta officially passed the torch to Turner, although she will remain on staff to provide support and guidance for two more weeks.
Turner, 54 and a 20-year Morgan Hill resident, has been involved with the City of Gilroy and the Chamber serving in various outreach programs during his 11 years on staff at SVCC. He has run the gamut of service in Gilroy, including orchestrating work projects for low-income families, coordinating volunteer groups for renovations at local schools and the formation of a nonprofit sports program for children.
“People were applying from outside the area, so me being local may have been a little bit of an advantage,” Turner said. “The case I made is that my strategic relationships I already have with people here may put me further ahead. I think they saw that as a plus.”
Turner’s role is a significant one in Gilroy’s business community. The Chamber CEO is responsible for supporting business owners with resources on how to operate successfully, advocating for their political rights, forming strategic connections with City Council and staff, working with other nonprofits to attract business and tourism to Gilroy, and connecting business owners through meetings and a monthly newsletter.
Valenta and Turner both declined to reveal the new CEO’s salary.
Turner sees the position as something primarily relational – an easy transition from shepherding a church flock to shepherding a flock of business owners – and he can grow into the more technical aspects of the job.
The Chamber board concurred.
“I think he’s stand-up, he’s got integrity, and I honestly think he will do a fantastic job,” said Debbie Sanchez of Fortino Winery. Sanchez said the board chose Turner from a lump of “less than a dozen” candidates.
“We did not make a hasty decision. We spent a lot of time mulling over everything,” she said.
Susan Valenta, who plans to take on a regional leadership role for the Rotary Club in her retirement, thought that Turner was the best choice, and his familiarity with the community was just the cherry on top.
“At the end of the day we were going to select the best person for the position and that person was Mark Turner. It’s been very refreshing, since so many people in the community know and respect Mark,” Valenta said. “Even though he is new to the position, he is not new to the community.”
Turner’s ministry experience, coupled with his 16 years in sales in the Bay Area, both as a sales manager for a construction technology company in Hayward and a sales rep at a small printing company, give him the skill set he’ll need for supporting and advocating for Gilroy business owners, Valenta said.
“Mark has that history of really getting down and bringing companies and organizations to a successful height,” Valenta said.
The search, which began in July, was headed up by a team of six Chamber board members who reported to the full board. Ads were posted in a multi-state magazine and website for Chamber of Commerce executives as well as word-of-mouth outreach by the board.
“We were looking for a specific skill set. We did not post on Craigslist. We did not want to get 10 million resumes,” Valenta said.
Turner said the search turned up eight to 10 applicants, a handful of which were asked back for a second interview. Sanchez said that Turner was not the only local applicant, although she declined to expand further.
“We weren’t looking for someone local, but it happened to turn out that way,” Valenta said. “The stars certainly did align really nicely.”
A San Jose native, Turner graduated from Camden High School in San Jose in 1979. While he did not attend college – he jokes that he endured the school of ‘hard-knocks’ – he recently completed courses in bible and theology from SVCC.
On Turner’s first day, he zipped around from meetings in the morning, a Rotary Club meeting in the afternoon and a Downtown Business Association meeting at night.
“It’s a lot to digest,” he said, flipping through stacks of paperwork on his new desk during his first week.
Pastor Eric Smith of SVCC said although he’ll miss Turner’s leadership at the church, he is thrilled for him to serve in a more prominent capacity.
“I know we’ll continue to work together. When he needs volunteers for things we will be there to help. That’s what we do. I told him, ‘Hey, you get to continue to serve the community, but now the Chamber will pay for it,’” Smith said, jokingly.
Turner celebrates his 30th wedding anniversary this month. He is the father of three girls, a 24-year-old in IT sales in San Jose, and 18-year-old twins who just started their first year at Gavilan College.
Turner completed Leadership Gilroy, a 10-week course to prepare residents for service in the community, in 2010. On the side, Turner is known to entertain audiences at corporate events and comedy clubs with a stand-up comic routine.
