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Photo courtesy of Bob Farley/f8Photo.
Toni Herrera-Bast is the new president and CEO of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce.
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Photo courtesy of Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce.
Toni Herrera-Bast, left, meets with Donna and Greg Bishop and Debbie Rutherford during an introductions meeting after Herrera-Bast was appointed the new president and CEO of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce.
As a child, Toni Herrera-Bast remembers watching her mother make a name for herself as a business entrepreneur.
Seeing her mother work as a cosmetology instructor and manager of three beauty schools and be the breadwinner for their family had a big influence on her. Her mother was selected as part of the Leadership El Paso organization and won an entrepreneur award.
Now, Herrera-Bast is following in her mom’s footsteps. She was part of the first class of Leadership Hoover in 2017 and in March started a new job as president and CEO of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce.
Herrera-Bast is filling the role left by April Stone, who departed as executive director for the Hoover chamber in September. The chamber’s board of directors changed the job title, but the duties remain essentially the same, board Chairman Paul Dangel said.
Herrera-Bast said her mother taught her from a very young age how to behave in a business setting, and that has been very important for her over the years.
She obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and public administration from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1996 and moved to Hoover in 1997 when her husband got a job with AmSouth Bank.
They chose to live in Hoover after researching school systems in the area, she said.
“Hoover has always been a city that is moving and growing — the place where I’ve raised my children,” Herrera-Bast said. “I’ve been in love with Hoover for a long time. It (this new job) is a great opportunity for me to give back to a community that has given to me.”
Most of Herrera-Bast’s background is in public relations, but she also obtained a master’s degree in human resources management and services from Troy University in 2004, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She spent 15 years as the public relations and marketing manager for the Birmingham Airport Authority, about five months as the director of media relations for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport and then moved back to the Birmingham area about two years ago to become the vice president of public relations with the YWCA of Central Alabama.
She was selected from among more than 70 applicants to be president and CEO for the Hoover chamber, Dangel said.
“We expect Toni to not only continue the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce’s excellent programs, but to work with partners, members, investors and community stakeholders as we launch a strategic plan with the goal of bringing the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce to an amazing new level,” Dangel said in a written statement.
Herrera-Bast said she is excited about the opportunities ahead. A lot of her experience in previous roles also dealt with economic development, so she feels at home in the new chamber job, she said.
Last year, the chamber’s board of directors began going through a strategic planning process, but the COVID-19 pandemic and Stone’s departure slowed that effort down, Herrera-Bast said.
“That’s definitely a priority for us now — to move the strategic planning process forward,” she said. “We’re hoping to get that started in the summer.”
A consulting firm, in part by using surveys of stakeholders in the community, will help the chamber identify priorities for the future.
One immediate challenge is helping the business community open back up from the COVID-19 pandemic, but that’s not a challenge unique to Hoover, she said.
In March, the chamber started back with in-person luncheons with the Hoover mayor giving his state-of-the-city speech. Unless something dramatic happens, the chamber plans to continue with in-person luncheons going forward, but paying close attention to guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and mandates from Gov. Kay Ivey.
Becoming president and CEO of the Hoover chamber is a “dream job,” she said.
“Hoover has so much potential with so many great attractions and amazing schools, she said. “Plus, the leadership is innovative. They’re always looking for how to do something different and how to do something better.”
While she was in Raleigh, she learned more about the importance of collaboration between cities and counties to foster growth.
“We all impact each other,” she said. “Collaboration is so key with growth and with prosperity.”
When Herrera-Bast is not working, she enjoys watching her son Jaxon (a 2020 Spain Park High School graduate now at Bluefield College in Virginia) wrestle, watching her daughter Audrey (a third-grader at Our Lady of the Valley School) cheer and dance. She also enjoys the outdoors, playing golf and watching sports.
Editor's note: This story was corrected on Wednesday, March 24, to indicate that Toni Herrera-Bast's mother was the manager of three beauty schools, not the owner.
