Amy Blankenbiller grew up in Lawrence, went to school at Kansas University and made a name for herself in Washington, D.C. – but never could shake her Kansas heritage.

Not that she’d ever want to.

“A lot of people leave their home state and sort of disconnect themselves,” Blankenbiller said. “I never did that. I’ve always stayed true to the state of Kansas.”

And now, a year after taking over as president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Blankenbiller is more than happy to be back home, working on behalf of businesses in the Sunflower State.

Her job puts her at the forefront of pushing a business agenda throughout the state, and especially at the Kansas Statehouse.

She leads a staff that’s expanding, with a renewed focus on effective lobbying on behalf of the interests – such as taxes, immigration, worker’s compensation and legal reform – of the chamber’s 800 members and another 50 local chambers of commerce that have signed on, including those in Lawrence, Leavenworth, Topeka and Manhattan.

It’s been 42 years since she was born in Lawrence, the daughter of Max and Jane Lucas. And she’s convinced that her mother, who died in 2003, helped guide Blankenbiller and her husband, Duane, back to the area from the nation’s capital.

Duane, fresh off 18 months in Qatar, put in for a transfer with the Department of Homeland Security. Amy, having worked on Capitol Hill, at the EPA and as a lobbyist, found the right fit with the chamber.

“I think my mom was sitting on my shoulder and really helping guide us back here,” she said. “It’s been an amazing, amazing opportunity for us, being able to spend time with family and friends. So many folks I know and grew up with are in Kansas City, or Lawrence, or Wichita. It’s one big small town. You know, the whole state to me is a small town, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean that in the most positive way possible.”

Charles Branson, Douglas County district attorney, is a classmate of Amy Blankenbiller’s in Leadership Kansas, the chamber’s own social, business and political development program.

He appreciates that someone in her position – and with experience in Washington – would enroll in a program that is all about Kansas.

“It’s a real credit to her,” said Branson, who will join Blankenbiller and others in Wichita today, Thursday and Friday for a Leadership Kansas program. “We think of her as just another classmate, not as the president and CEO. She’s really immersing herself in the position.”

Living in Topeka, she is just a short drive over from the town where she enrolled in kindergarten at Broken Arrow School – then virtually brand new – and went on to play golf on the state champion golf team at Lawrence High School before earning a political science degree at KU and heading to Washington as an intern for then-U.S. Sen. Bob Dole and a White House appointment to the Environmental Protection Agency.

She’s glad to be back. And at work.

“We’ve dug our heels in, and I don’t think we’re going anywhere,” she said.