Chamber names Jensen as new director

Emily Jensen had her first day at the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce on July 5, but she’s no stranger to the community.

“I’ve not left this street in 17 years,” Jensen said. “Over the course of that time I’ve had many occasions to work with the chamber and have always had a great deal of respect for what Suzan [Doidge] and the team and board of directors have been doing for the community and especially for our business owners and merchants.”

A career banker, Jensen got her start with the former Amsouth Bank (now Regions), then moved to the former IberiaBank (now First Horizon). IberiaBank was a chamber sponsor, so over her career, Jensen attended chamber meetings and said many of the people she has worked closely with have served on the chamber’s board of directors.

Jensen decided to step away from banking in March 2022. She said while it was a great career, she felt like she had a skillset that wasn’t being utilized and the chamber director opportunity came at the right time.

“[The job] popped on my radar within a few days of me making the decision to leave banking,” Jensen said. “I read the job description and just thought, this really is in many ways, my dream job.”

She said it’s interesting that so much of what the chamber does is so closely aligned to what she did as a private banker. The role is not only community oriented and customer service driven, but also is rooted in promoting and supporting the membership of the organization, she said.

“Having a love for this community is really what drove me to apply for it,” Jensen said. “I felt like this was the perfect intersection of all of the things I've always enjoyed most: relationship building, business development and community involvement."

Jensen said she has a great admiration for the strong foundation director Suzan Doidge and the chamber team have built and is excited to step in and build on that.

Suzan Doidge, who has been the chamber director for the past 14 years, will retire on Sept. 30. Jensen said she will have about three months of overlap with Doidge during which she will pick her brain and take advantage of all of her institutional knowledge, which she said is really important. 

“I’m excited to have this time with Suzan [Doidge] to get out and not only talk to our business owners, but also meet the chamber’s board of directors and the stakeholders in the city who have helped make the chamber such a successful organization,” she said. 

The new chamber board of directors, along with new president Millie Rudder, begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2023. There will be some new faces and some people will move into different roles, Jensen said.  

During the interview process, Jensen was able to meet several members of the board of directors, including the current president, former president, community members and city employees. She said she was already familiar with some of them by virtue of having lived and worked in Mountain Brook for so long. 

"So in one capacity or another, by virtue of having lived, worked, and volunteered here for so long, I feel certain I will see many familiar faces. And for those that aren't, I look forward to working with them and getting to know them soon," she said.

Her passion for serving others includes experience serving on the executive boards of several nonprofits over the course of her career, including the Junior League of Birmingham and ChildCare Resources. She has also done work with Birmingham Botanical Gardens, serving on the steering committee for Antiques at the Gardens and has served on The Committee for the Future of Children’s Hospital of Alabama.

Jensen and her husband, Jeff, are both natives of Mobile who ended up in Mountain Brook after college. Jeff is the director of the project management office for Rx Benefits located on U.S. 280. They reside in Cherokee Bend and have two sons, John (5) and Wills (7), who attend Cherokee Bend Elementary. 

Jensen will have an official introduction to the chamber’s executive board on July 21 and will meet chamber and community members at the quarterly luncheon on Aug. 2. 

"I'm extremely excited about where we're headed as we head into this next chapter," she said.