By Robert Haugh
Nick Kaspar stepped down recently as CEO of the NOT the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce.
He served for three years and left to take a job as chief of staff for San Jose Councilmember Maya Esparza.
She was elected in 2018 and is considered part of the labor bloc on her Council.
Since Monday, Christian Pellecchia, a Chamber board member, has taken over the daily operations.
Pellechia is a vice president of operations for Slatter Construction and will be in charge until a replacement for Kaspar is found.
The Chamber is off to a rocky start under their new Board President Chris Boyd who took over last summer.
Boyd is a Senior Vice President and General Manager of Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara.
A year ago, Boyd announced a name change from the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce to the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce.
It was an attempt to rebrand and work in the cities of Sunnyvale and Campbell. That didn’t go over very well.
The Sunnyvale and Campbell Chambers publicly rejected the NOT the Santa Clara Chamber’s attempts to work in their cities.
Boyd was also part of the leadership team as Chair-Elect when NOT made a series of major blunders.
According to local business sources, NOT has lost membership recently. But a major sponsorship from the controversial tech firm Hauwei has helped pay the bills.
NOT currently faces a $580,000 lawsuit from the City for its malfeasance and mismanagement of the Convention Center.
We wish Kaspar well in his new job. And wish NOT success in finding a replacement.
[…] Christian D. Malesic will replace Christian Pellecchia who’s been running the chamber since June 2020. Pellechia is a Chamber board member who took over when Nick Kaspar left to take a job for a San Jose Councilmember. […]
When the ship is going down, JUMP!!!
Good luck to Nick, I always thought he was a good guy surrounded by nefarious bad actors.
As a local Santa Claran with a busy family, I appreciate your reporting. Keeps me aware of issues I normally would have no idea of.