This week’s Life in the Spotlight is the new President of the Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce. Rita Mrozinski has big plans for the county she grew up in.
“I love La Porte,” she says. “I’ve got a good base here. I love the business side, we’ve got a great dynamic here between the businesses. We’ve got a lot of good things happening in La Porte, I’ve gotten to see that over the past 10 years.”
Rita has always been fascinated by finance. She started her career at 1st Source Bank in 1979, then later moved to Horizon Bank. Most recently, Rita was an Assistant Branch Manager for La Porte Savings Bank. Her responsibilities included helping students plan their financial futures, teaching clients how to do everyday things like balance checkbooks, and facilitating loans.
The La Porte Savings Bank was a member of the Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce. Rita became enamored with the business aspect of her job that introduced her to the Chamber. In 2010, she left the banking world to work full time for the Chamber of Commerce as Director of Membership and Finance.
“In my career path, I wanted to do more for the businesses in my community. I wanted to see what their struggles were and how I could help. With the Chamber you can actually do a lot more for them.”
The next step in her path was to be President of the Chamber. Michael Seitz was retiring and it was suggested that Rita apply for his vacated spot. Rita feels it is her open mind and willingness to change that qualified her for the position.
“People tend to get stagnant,” she explained. “You need to be able to overcome, to take hold of change. That’s one of the things that has pushed me.”
Other core values seem to have influenced Rita as well. Her strong work ethic kept her eyes and ears open around the Chamber. She spent the last five years learning what she could about how the Chamber works and what each person’s role in it does to sustain the organization. Rita learned from Seitz. She knew, early on, that she could do great things as President and she aspired to that.
Electing a new Chamber President demands a voting process. The board, a collection of local business leaders, decides who it will be. They chose a woman who loves La Porte and wants to see its continued growth.
Under Seitz, creditation was rewritten to make them a 5 Star Chamber. Rita plans to maintain that. She will take a personal approach to memberships, meeting with each organization face to face and learning about their needs.
Her biggest goal is to shift everyone’s mindset closer to business instead of on themselves.
“Our educators and our youth complain that there’s nothing keeping them here. We need to attract companies that show them they have a future here. We could provide more jobs so people don’t have to leave the county. The Chamber makes our community strong. It opens the eyes of businesses thinking about coming here, and attracts individual people here.”
The Chamber rewards and supports local business with regular community events and lectures. They host seminars in the county so that companies who cannot afford to send their employees out can still participate in continued learning. The Chamber fosters networking and the sharing of resources. Rita wants to be the go to person when a Business needs something.
“I’d rather give than receive. That’s just me, I make things happen.”
Rita believes you need to have a great personal life in order for your professional life to succeed. She has that with her husband of thirty years and their two daughters. Her youngest child is a beautician and mother of three. The eldest is following in Rita’s footsteps with a job at First Source Bank and a Chamber membership.
“They keep me grounded. They push me to make the community better, for them.”
Rita is a woman who likes to be pushed, to have her talents tested. She hopes the Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce and its board continues to challenge her.