ELLSWORTH, Maine — Two Chamber of Commerce organizations in Hancock County have abruptly parted ways with their executive directors.
Both Nancy McKechnie of the Bar Harbor Chamber and Susan Farley of the Ellsworth Area Chamber have left their positions as executive directors, officials with the two organizations said Wednesday.
Jeff Clark, president of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said Farley left her position as executive director of the organization last Friday. He declined to comment on the reasons for her departure.
He said the Chamber is in the midst of trying to make arrangements for an interim replacement for Farley and that the board has not yet come up with a plan for finding a new long-term executive director.
“We haven’t been able to meet since Susan left,” Clark said.
Farley, a former reporter for WABI-TV and family assistance advocate at the Washington-Hancock Community Agency, became executive director of the Ellsworth Area Chamber in July 2014, Clark said.
A Southwest Harbor resident, Farley confirmed in a brief email sent out Tuesday that she no longer works for the Ellsworth Chamber. Without providing any additional details, she said only that the organization had “decided to go in a different direction” and that though she was sad about leaving, she enjoyed “many highlights and successes” since accepting the position last year.
“I have loved working with all our member businesses and have made many lasting friendships,” Farley said in the email.
Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, president of the Bar Harbor Chamber’s board of directors, said Wednesday that McKechnie resigned “for personal reasons,” but did not go into further detail. She said McKechnie started in the position on May 25 earlier this year and her last day of work was Dec. 8.
In a letter that was sent out Tuesday to members of the Bar Harbor Chamber, Catlin-Legutko said Martha Searchfield, vice president of the board, will serve as interim director until a permanent executive director is hired sometime next year.
“As always, the current staff at the chamber is poised and ready to seamlessly handle the day-to-day operation of the organization,” the board president wrote.
McKechnie succeeded longtime executive director Chris Fogg in the position after he left last winter to become the CEO of Maine Tourism Association.
