Courtney Glock is vice president of the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce. And at 26, she is the youngest person to serve in the role.
As vice president, Glock leads the chamber’s workforce development efforts, with a focus on talent attraction and retention.
“I spearhead a lot of initiatives with local colleges to help get the word out there to market Grand Island, going to career fairs, and collecting resumes to distribute to local businesses,” she said.
Glock also coordinates the chamber’s Young Professionals program, for ages 21-40, which allows them to get involved in the community as a group. The program, which started in 2006, boasts nearly 150 members, and continues to grow.
Glock has been at the Chamber for four years. She started as an intern in 2018, and was then was hired as communications and event coordinator where she coordinated volunteers for Nebraska State Fair.
She has a degree in advertising and public relations and marketing from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, despite always thinking she would be a nurse or teacher.
“I just love helping people. I love building relationships. Those two industries really felt like they would be a good fit for me,” she said. “I learned about publicists my senior year of high school, did a little bit of research, and thought, maybe I’ll just do something general.”
She began studying communications and took it further.
“I wanted to focus on the branding piece,” she said, “and creating positive reputations and representing and putting your best self forward, and that’s where the public relations piece came in.”
Workforce development has become a passion for Glock, she said. These efforts involve creating a brand for Grand Island and sending out a message to young people: It’s OK to return to back home.
“I’m from Grand Island and went to receive my education outside of our community, and I came back,” she said. “Though I never necessarily expected to come back to Grand Island, I realized what kind of opportunities are in our community.”
Glock also discovered how easy it is for a young person to become a community leader.
“We have so many mentors and fantastic individuals who make up the leadership of this community,” she said, “but they’re all very welcoming to young people to step in and walk alongside them and eventually fill those shoes.”
Grand Island’s young professionals, all aspiring leaders, have “something in them.
“They have some type of investment in our community, whether they live here or work here, and they want to deepen that connection,” Glock said.
This is done through chamber-led tours of local businesses and lunches with CEOs and other leaders, and by volunteering for community events.
“I have found it absolutely important not only for our young professionals, but also for myself, to get involved in the community,” Glock said. “It provides me with that sense of belonging that I need as an individual to grow myself professionally here, and for that reason I don’t know if I could ever see myself leaving Grand Island.”
Becoming the youngest vice president in the chamber’s history was never a part of Glock’s plan.
It was the chamber’s board and president Cindy Johnson who supported her and encouraged her to “go beyond her comfort zone,” Glock said.
“It was never something that crossed my mind. I started out as an intern here at the chamber and really got a feel for what it’s like to work in the business community and what it meant to be an involved leader,” she said.
The distinction is rewarding to Glock as both a female professional and a Grand Island native, she said.
“It’s very rewarding that I get to be in this role and serve the community in this capacity, and that I have this level of interaction with our community,” she said. “It’s something I don’t take for granted. I appreciate every opportunity that’s been given to me. I only hope that I can continue to give back to our community and show that, what they’ve invested in me, I will give back to the community.”
