SEQUIM — After three years with the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Information Center, Executive Director Anji Scalf is stepping down.
She sent out an announcement late Tuesday saying her last full day of work will be this coming Tuesday.
“Thank you for the opportunity to serve the community of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley for the past 3 years,” she wrote in the statement.
“I am extraordinarily proud of the team and connections I have built in this position, as well as a number of organizational and operational upgrades to help the Chamber and community endure this period of economic disruption.”
Board president Charla Wright said on Wednesday that Scalf gave two weeks’ notice. She did not elaborate on Scalf’s next venture.
“We wish her well,” she said.
Scalf was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
No decision has been made on an interim director, Wright said.
She said the executive director position will be posted on Indeed.com. The chamber’s executive board is developing a hiring committee.
Some of the position’s duties, Wright said, are managing the chamber and visitor center’s budget, working with the City of Sequim on lodging tax funds, being a presence in the community and serving as a representative for merchants.
Wright said she does not anticipate any disruptions in service at the chamber, 1192 E. Washington St., during the hiring process.
Scalf began work at the chamber in early October 2018 following Shelli Robb-Kahler, who had served as executive director of the chamber from 2011-2018.
Prior to her tenure in Sequim, Scalf managed the Mountain View public pool in Port Townsend from 2010-15, followed by managing Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Chimacum. She managed Wind Rose Cellars after she moved to Sequim in 2016.
The COVID-19 pandemic overlapped a large portion of Scalf’s tenure, and Wright said she “was instrumental in seeking out and writing grants keeping the (visitor information center) and (chamber) afloat and in the black.”
Scalf helped with Lifeboat grant disbursements, too, Wright said.
She also aided in establishing a Small Business Relief Fund through the chamber, and she helped the City of Sequim vet and distribute funds through the city’s COVID-19 Small Business Rapid Relief Program, Wright said.
“It was important to her to support the small businesses of Sequim,” she added.
“Again, my deepest gratitude for the collaborative energy and hard work we have done together to forge a fruitful future for the Sequim-Dungeness Valley,” Scalf said in the statement she emailed on Tuesday.
“I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the rolling fields, historic barns, and the resilient small businesses in this community — and look forward to being your ally next door,” Scalf said without elaboration.
For more information, call the chamber at 360-683-6197 or visit sequimchamber.com.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
