FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 20, 2007

Rachel Girt, Manager, Marketing & Public Relations
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2851 Cell: 307.631.4681               

Elaina Zempel
Deputy Regional Director
Wyoming Business Council
Quality Plaza
1100 Pine Avenue, Suite 3F
Kemmerer, Wyoming
Phone: 307.877.2203

Zempel joins the Wyoming Business Council staff as Deputy Regional Director

CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Business Council announced that Elaina Zempel has joined the staff as Deputy Regional Director for Southwest Wyoming.

The regional offices are the first points of contact for the Wyoming Business Council and work with local economic development organizations, city and county entities and the Wyoming business community to help local businesses prosper as well as to help communities take advantage of state and national programs. The Business Council has six Regional Offices located in Casper, Riverton, Powell, Cheyenne, Gillette and Rock Springs.

“Elaina brings years of economic development experience to this position, and she will be a great asset to southwest Wyoming” said Steve Elledge, Wyoming Business Council’s Director of Field Operations.

“Wyoming has a tremendous economic development infrastructure with the Wyoming Business Council and its partners,” Zempel said. “The Wyoming Business Council is instrumental in Wyoming’s ability to take advantage of its current economic development opportunities. It is exciting to be a part of this organization.”

Zempel will be working with Southwest Regional Director Ray Sarcletti and her office will be located in Kemmerer at the Quality Plaza, 1100 Pine Avenue, Suite 3F.

Zempel comes to the Wyoming Business Council from South Lincoln County Economic Development where she has been employed since her relocation to Kemmerer from Conrad, Montana. She will be filling the Deputy Director position for Southwest Wyoming left vacant by Roy Weber.

Zempel has ten years of experience in rural economic development in north central Montana. While in Montana, she was employed at the Pondera Regional Port Authority, a county-wide economic development organization. She also has experience with Sweetgrass Development, a five-county Economic Development District and the Conrad Area Chamber of Commerce. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Port Authority and helped pass a four-mill levy to underwrite the organization. She also established and managed a $460,000 revolving loan fund through a Community Block Development Grant. She is a Certified Economic Developer and a new generation Cooperative Developer.

Zempel transferred to Kemmerer after her husband retired in the public education system in Montana and was hired as the principal at Kemmerer High School. She and her husband have three college-age children.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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