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November 05, 2019
Westlake Village, CA - The Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce President/CEO, Jill Lederer, has announced her retirement effective January 5, 2020. In a message to the Chamber’s members, Lederer said:
“Dear Members, Partners & Friends of the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce,
It with such a full and grateful heart that I let you know that I will be retiring as CEO of your Chamber on January 5, 2020 (the 11th anniversary of my first day as your Chamber CEO). I love this Chamber and our team so much and am incredibly grateful to be retiring (to our home in coastal N. Carolina) with the Chamber at its strongest. This is thanks to the amazing partnerships amongst our Board, Membership, Cities, Ambassadors, Team and all of our incredible partners. I truly couldn’t ask for more in my professional or personal life.
I’m also delighted to let you know that my successor will be a familiar face to many of you: Danielle Borja, the Chamber’s Senior Director of Marketing & Events, who has been with the Chamber for over 7 years will be your new President/CEO effective January 6, 2020! Danielle is a Conejo Valley native and is a double Cal Lutheran graduate. I’m confident that the transition will be seamless and that your Chamber has nothing but success ahead of it.
I wish each of you and all the members and partners to come, every happiness and success; as I have, I know you will find it here in the Conejo.
With gratitude, love & joy (& some tears),
Jill"
Under Lederer’s leadership the Chamber added the City of Agoura Hills to its contract cities, formed the award-winning Conejo Valley Tourism Improvement District and twice received the elite 5-Star accreditation rating from the accreditation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an every 5-year milestone achieved by approximately 1% of the 7,000 Chambers of Commerce nationwide. The Chamber also received 11 consecutive President’s Circle Awards from Cal Chamber, one of only 6 in California to have received this recognition every year it has been offered.
When asked what she was most proud of she said, “All of it; I’ve had a blessed career and I’m so grateful for every moment of it.”
The Chamber was recently recognized as the #1 Chamber by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal and by the Los Angeles Business Journal as the #2 Chamber, defined by budget, behind only the historic Los Angeles Chamber. Lederer’s career has been defined by her inclusive collaborative manner, love of team building and her commitment to community, serving on Boards including the California Lutheran Board of Regents, Los Robles Health System Board of Trustees, Conejo Las Virgenes Future Foundation, Western Association of Chamber Executives, Chambers of Commerce Alliance of Ventura & Santa Barbara Counties, Pepperdine Graziadio School Board of Visitors (where she received her MBA) and as a 30-year member of Thousand Oaks Rotary. The longtime business leader was honored in 2018 as Jacqui Irwin’s Assembly District 44 Woman of the Year.
She and her husband of 32 years, Stephen Hicks, will retire to their home on a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina.