The Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce has named Cindy Shafer as new president and CEO, according to the nonprofit’s Facebook page.
Shafer’s appointment will be effective Jan. 26.
“Cindy brings decades of leadership experience across nonprofit management, workforce partnerships and community development,” the chamber said.
She is former CEO of Community Ministries of Richardson, according to her own Facebook page.
The nonprofit’s website said it provides food pantry, mental health and basic needs services.
Shafer became executive director of Texas Community Counseling in Bowie in 2025.
She will take over from Maria Jaimes-Contreras, who has served as interim CEO since former CEO Ron Kitchens took a job in Saint Louis.
Shafer arrives at a time when the chamber’s mission has shifted away from its historic aim of economic development in Wichita Falls.
Mayor Tim Short said in an Oct. 21 Facebook post that the chamber would “self sustain on events and memberships now” and “put on the ribbon cutting and ground breaking and networking events and they do it better than anyone else.”
The City Council voted on Oct. 21 to take money allocated to the chamber in the city’s 2026 budget and give it instead to a new nonprofit called Forward Wichita Falls.
Shafer’s appointment will be effective Jan. 26.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce picks new CEO
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
