Baldwin City ? Baldwin City residents may not know the community’s first-ever Chamber of Commerce executive director, but they’ve probably heard his voice.

Hank Booth, longtime Lawrence radio personality and former Lawrence Chamber of commerce vice president, recently was named the first-ever executive director of the Baldwin City Chamber of Commerce.

“That’s what I’ve been telling people,” Hank Booth said recently. “I’ve done the radio show ‘According to the Record’ since getting out of the Army in 1972.”

At the end of January, it was announced that Booth, a longtime Lawrence radio personality on KLWN and one-time public address announcer at Kansas University basketball and football games, was hired as the chamber’s first executive director. He recently started his duties in Baldwin City.

Booth, who lives near Pleasant Grove with his wife, Sue, also comes to the position with a background in economic development, having worked at the Lawrence Chamber of commerce for eight years starting in 2007. He served as that organization’s vice president of community affairs and as director of government and community affairs. He also was interim director of the Lawrence chamber for a year in 2012 and 2013.

Booth’s hiring ends a search to fill the chamber executive director position, which started in October when the Baldwin City Council agreed to match the chamber’s annual contribution of $30,000 for the position’s salary and benefits.

Paul Dorathy, president of the Baldwin City Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber board was pleased with the number of applicants it received for the opening. It took some time to cull the applicant list to the six candidates who interviewed for the job, he said.

“I think he stood out from the applications,” he said of Booth. “Obviously with his background in radio, he communicates very well. I think that came across during the interview.”

Chamber board member Jim Sears, who led the interviews, said Booth stood out among the six final candidates.

“It was his enthusiasm and his connections,” Sears said. “He’s very well connected in Douglas County and has a vision of what the chamber can do. I just feel he was by far the best candidate.”

Booth said those contacts were established through his work with the Lawrence chamber and his volunteer efforts with numerous organizations, including Kansas Wildscape Foundation, the Douglas County Visiting Nurses Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County, Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, Cottonwood Inc., the Lawrence Schools Foundation, the Lawrence/Douglas County Planning Commission, Douglas County Senior Services, Douglas County 4-H and United Way of Douglas County.

He said he also met many Douglas County residents through his morning radio program. He likes to take the radio show on the road and wants to bring it on occasion to Baldwin City and Baker University with his new job, Booth said.

The appeal of his new job is returning to a field he enjoyed in a community where he has deep roots, Booth said.

“I really enjoyed my time with the (Lawrence) chamber,” he said. “I worked with three different executive directors. I learned a great deal from all three of them.”

One of his tasks with the Lawrence chamber was to build bridges with individuals and groups in Lawrence whose views on growth didn’t always align with those of the chamber, Booth said. Although he didn’t anticipate such rifts in Baldwin City, he would apply what he learned through that experience and would be available to listen to residents’ concerns about economic development and chamber issues, Booth said.

“If you have questions about the Baldwin City Chamber of Commerce, call me,” he said.

Booth starts with the advantage of his Baldwin City roots. He went to the third and fourth grade in the Baldwin school district after his parents bought a farmhouse just south of town. His father sold the property and moved back to Lawrence after his mother died.

He remained tied to Baldwin City through his aunt and uncle, Helen and Harvey Booth, who owned a downtown grocery store for years. After selling that venture, they farmed west of the city, Booth said.

“Baldwin City has been like a second home to me for many years,” he said. “My family and I love Baldwin City.”

Booth’s long association with radio started at 10 years of age when his widower father started bringing him and his sister to the Lawrence station he owned. Booth would follow in his father’s footsteps as owner and general manager of the station. He would later sell the station to Zimmer Radio Group and work a consultant for the company.

His familiarity and affection for Baldwin City inform his vision for his goals for the chamber, Booth said.

“I think Baldwin City has a great future, but I don’t think people here want it to be Johnson County,” he said. “This isn’t about taking the 5,000 living here today and making it 10,000 in 10 years. That’s not what our job is. I think people want to live here because it’s a great community. It’s a safe community with great amenities and a great school system.”

He said Baldwin City should seek growth with a three-pronged approach of residential growth that targeted young families and retirees, economic development through encouraging young entrepreneurial businesses and supporting the asset of Baker University as the avenue of realizing those goals, Booth said.

“We’re so blessed to have an academic institution as strong as Baker in our community,” he said. “I haven’t met (Baker President) Lynne Murray yet, but I think of her as a partner. I hope she feels the same way. A strong Baker University is the best thing for Baldwin City.”

Baker was one of the principal features and amenities that would attract residential growth to the community, Booth said. Baldwin City should appeal to and attract young families looking for a school system where their children can get a quality education while participating in a wide range of extra-curricular activities and baby boomers seeking a safe and comfortable retirement home.

“I think Baker alums from the ’60s and ’70s would love to return,” he said. “It’s a safe, beautiful town.”

Thriving chamber members Reflective Group, Rice Precision Manufacturing and McFarlane Aviation in Vinland were models for the kind of economic development the community should seek and encourage, Booth said.

“I don’t think Baldwin City wants to put a manufacturing plant on the edge of town with 500 employees,” he said. “Look at what Dave McFarlane has done growing his business to 40 employees and needing to expand again. That’s the kind of business we need in this town.

“As those businesses grow and you get other young entrepreneurial businesses, you fill up stores downtown and on the highway and maybe see new ones built.”

His and the chamber’s role in making that three-pronged approach work was that of facilitators, Booth said.

“We’re here to do whatever needs to be done — facilitate, partner, network,” he said.

Booth said he also was interested in the thoughts of chamber members and residents on his and the chamber’s role.

“I want to hear from people and invite them to call me ,” he said. “I need to get to know the Economic Development Council folks. I have a lot of people to meet.

“I’m in my late 60s, but I still have the same energy I always had when I’m excited about something like I am about this.”