Jamie Gore, new executive director of the Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce, has had an eventful start.
More Top Picks Best Sewing Machines
On July 10, three days before her first day, a board member called and told her, “Don’t panic.” The person who was to have trained her decided to leave, so Gore would have to teach herself about the job.
Gore, whose previous 15 years were as a preschool teacher, had to learn quickly. “I’m a former teacher, so I know how to organize.”
There was a golf outing July 24, a back-to-school luncheon, a car show and a progressive dinner to see about.
For a chamber publication, she and a photographer spent the morning interviewing and photographing Austin Bonta and members of his administration, finishing up at 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 11.
A short time later, Gore learned about the term “derecho.”
Her house fared well except for a nine-year-old plum tree that was felled. “It went out with a bang,” Gore said, having a violent end to its life after a bountiful harvest last year.
She lost power for days and was still without internet Monday afternoon.
But the chamber office had good light through south windows in the conference room, so she was able to spend the days without power on her cellphone and familiarize herself with the chamber’s history and other information in the files while the office was closed.
The derecho will go down in history as the worst storm to hit Portage. NIPSCO has said the Aug. 11 storm caused more outages than at any other time in the utility’s history.
“I met more neighbors these last two weeks than I did the whole time I lived there,” Gore said, having moved to her current home in 2017.
Now she’s on a mission to meet chamber members and others who operate businesses in Portage. “I want to meet each one of them, and I want to connect,” Gore said.
“People like to be invited,” so she wants to find business leaders and invite them to join. “We’re growing, so it’s a perfect time to be in business in Portage right now.”
“I think the storm is really a great reminder of what a great community we’re in,” Gore said.
When a business gets a permit to open in the city, City Hall notifies the chamber. The chamber of commerce holds ribbon cuttings for Portage businesses regardless of whether they’re a chamber member. “Every business in Portage is a potential member,” she said.
“I want to create an inclusive, welcoming environment,” even more than it already is, and give business reasons to want to be part of the chamber.
“It’s about networking. It’s about meeting other people. It’s about really letting folks know what Portage has to offer,” Gore said.
“It takes big, medium and small businesses to make a community,” she said.
“I’m enjoying the challenge,” plus meeting people, Gore said. “Every single person I’ve met in all aspects I’m doing, they’re lovely.”
At her first board meeting, she handed out printed agendas. “That teacher is still in me about the large print on the agenda,” Gore told them. One board member said he was just about to thank her for the larger type. “Some aspects of my preK experience will lend itself” to working with others, she said.
At the back-to-school teachers luncheon, Gore told them they were about to have some of the best and worst days of their lives in the coming year. “It’s all going to be worth it in the end,” she said.
One of the teachers told her, “I think you could be my preschool teacher.” She was.
More Top Picks Best Amazon Prime Day Theragun Massage Gun Deals 2026
Connecting with others in the community is one of the chamber’s big benefits, she said, and in her 50 years of living in Portage, she’s made a lot of connections. Members use several social network platforms to reach thousands of people, and the chamber helps members connect with fellow members who might have a solution for another member’s needs.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.