A 13-member search committee has been chosen to find the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce’s next president and chief executive.

Chamber chairman Kelvin Heck said the nine members of the chamber’s executive board, two local elected officials, a chamber staff member and a representative from the Lawrence media would make up the search committee.

The group is responsible for interviewing and recommending a replacement to the full chamber board for outgoing president Bill Sepic, who is leaving to lead the area chamber of commerce in Lansing Mich.

“While it is the chamber of commerce and it is a business organization, it is a position that does impact a lot of areas of the community, so we want to have a group that is fairly broad,” Heck said.

The nine members of the chamber’s executive board who will serve on the search committee are: Heck, a commercial real estate agent with Grubb & Ellis/The Winbury Group; Ann Gardner, editorial page editor at the Journal-World; Larry McElwain, co-owner of Warren-McElwain Mortuary; David Adams, president and CEO of Emprise Bank; Shirley Martin-Smith, owner of Martin-Smith Personnel; Mark Buhler, vice president of Stephens Real Estate; Ernie Cummings, owner of Kizer Cummings Jewelers; Jason Edmonds, financial adviser at Robert W. Baird & Co.; and Gene Meyer, president and CEO of Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

The four committee members not from the chamber board are Bob Johnson, Douglas County commissioner; Sue Hack, Lawrence mayor; Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Ralph Gage, general manager of The World Company, which owns the Journal-World and Sunflower Broadband.

Heck said the chamber would begin advertising for the position in early January and he hoped to make a selection by early March, allowing the new president to be working for the chamber by mid-April.

Bill Sepic, outgoing president and CEO of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, visits with Lawrence resident Emily Taylor. Sepic is leaving the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce to accept a position in Lansing, Mich. Friends and community members gathered during a reception Tuesday at the Lawrence Visitor's Center, 402 N. Second St., to wish him well.

The search committee probably will conduct phone interviews with from eight to 10 candidates and bring three or four finalists to town for a final round of interviews, Heck said.

Heck said he expected there would be many applicants for the position.

“I know a similar job was filled in Lincoln, Neb., recently, and they received 137 resumes,” Heck said. “I’m hoping we get a similar number of applicants. There are a lot of folks in private business who are looking for executive positions these days, so I think we’ll have a good field to draw from.”

Today is Sepic’s last day with the Lawrence chamber. Jean Milstead, a retired senior vice president with Douglas County Bank, has been named interim president and CEO.