Melrose People: Joan Ford Mongeau
Banks seen offering plan to restore confidence
(AP)
when jil-lyn wonoski announced last july that she was stepping down as executive director of the melrose reception cialis room of commerce after only one year on the job, it sent congress board members scrambling to find a replacement.
Fortunately, it didn’t take them long.
Earlier this month, Joanne Schamberg, president of the Chamber board, announced that longtime Melrose resident Joan Ford Mongeau had been hired to replace Wonoski. Mongeau will officially take over at the end of September since Wonoski agreed to stay on to spearhead the Chamber’s biggest fundraiser, the annual Victorian Fair, which takes place Sunday, Sept. 14.
Mongeau has an impressive resume, having worked with several large corporations in the financial services industry over the years.
According to Schamberg, ‘Throughout the interview process, Mongeau expressed her vision for the [Chamber] director role to be one keenly attentive to collaboration and creativity.’
We spoke with Mongeau this week, and asked her about her plans for the Chamber and her roots in Melrose.
Joan, how long have you lived in Melrose?
I moved here when I was 5. My parents still live here, as do all four of my siblings. I went to Melrose Public Schools and graduated from Melrose High School, Class of 1976.
You have four children. What are their ages and did/do they attend Melrose Public Schools?
My husband, Peter, and I have two sets of twins: William, 18, is going to Salem State College this fall, and Ben, 18, is going to UVM. Julia, 14, and Tim, 14, are going to be freshmen at Melrose High School.
After MHS, you attended Mount Holyoke College and graduated in 1980 with a degree in American Studies. What did you do next?
I went into financial services and started in the strategic planning area of what was then called The New England, and today is called Metropolitan Life. I was junior person, and I worked with some high-level people. It was a neat thing for someone with a bachelor’s degree. At the same time, I pursued and earned an MBA from Boston College [Mongeau also received the Edgar F. Hughes Award in Human Resources from Boston College].
Your resume says you eventually left the corporate world to ‘take on a number of independent consulting assignments.’ What services did you offer as a consultant?
My primary job was consulting with businesses with financial technology. In 1987 I went to work for Coopers Lybrand, which is now PricewaterhouseCoopers. Back then people were still doing books by hand — personal computing and networking were just taking off. I helped people figure out the best software for network-based computing. It really complimented my MBA, and I really got to roll up my sleeves and do a lot of hands-on with smaller businesses. I did that until 1994 when Tim and Julia were born. I couldn’t figure out how to get myself showered in the morning, let alone get to work on time!
So, I left the corporate world. In 1995 I started doing development work for my alma mater, Mount Holyoke, and did fundraising. I was called a head class agent, and I managed a group of 25 classmates who approached other classmates. I’m still doing that. I do training sessions out there to train new head class agents.
My most recent work was a home-based business with Still River Inc., a retirement-planning software firm. I got to see everything with that: worries about staff, worries about production, etc.
What do you see as the primary role for the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce?
To help the businesses in this community thrive, not just survive. A healthy community helps businesses, and a healthy business community helps a community itself.
Any changes you’d like to make at the Chamber right at the start? And as a resident, how have you viewed the Chamber through the years?
First off, I don’t want to talk about any changes yet because I haven’t [officially] started yet. Two things guide me: collaboration and creativity. That’s how I will approach the job.
How would you answer critics who might say you’re over-qualified for this position?
You’d first have to consider that this [Melrose] is my home and my husband’s home. This is where we chose — and I …
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