By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor
– Leeber reflects on three decades–plus of change and progress
For the last three decades, Susanne Morreale Leeber has led the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce (MRCC). She has served as its president and CEO since 1991.
“I have been given the opportunity to be in the catbird’s seat to view and take part in the evolution of the Marlborough Region for the past 30 years,” she said.
And indeed, she has had a remarkable opportunity to see – and partake – in the city’s business success.
But now, that legacy is coming to end as Leeber prepares to step down from her position this summer.
Small business has always been in Leeber’s blood. As a young girl growing up in Waltham, she worked in her father Vincent’s company, Mor Real Sewing Machine Center. Many of her relatives were also in the business, she said.
She then attended Bentley College where she received an accounting degree. Soon after, she helped her father to incorporate his business.
Leeber eventually moved to Hudson in 1978, where she raised her three daughters.
She went to work three years part-time as a bookkeeper for the Hudson Girls Club. It was in 1987, Leeber said, that she was looking for “something different” and came across a newspaper ad seeking a membership director for the MRCC.
“I didn’t even know what a chamber did!” she laughed.
But she was hired and soon discovered she was good at selling memberships for the chamber. When the then-president Don Dobson found out she could “do the bookkeeping,” she added that onto her responsibility as well.
When Dobson left the chamber in 1991, Leeber applied and then was hired for the position of President and CEO.
The chamber’s original tagline was “A Country Kind of City,” she noted. In 1988 it was changed to “Working Together Works Better.”
“That philosophy really applies to the way things are done as far as working with other officials and groups here in the city,” she said. “For example we have an excellent relationship with the Marlborough Economic Development Corporation. We work hand in hand with them. They attract the companies here and then we work to keep them here.”
A legacy of service
Leeber has played an integral part in many other organizations as well.
Over the past 25 years, she continues to serve as co-chair of the MetroWest Economic Research Center’s (MERC) Advisory Board at Framingham State University and is a founding member of the MetroWest Travel and Tourism Bureau. She has also been involved with the founding of the Marlborough Downtown Village Association. In addition, she has served as founding member and treasurer on the board of 495 Corridor Partnership and United Way of Tri-County. She helped to form the local Business Network International (BNI) and has served in leadership roles with other organizations including Greater Marlborough Programs, Inc. (now Thrive Support & Advocacy), the Arts Alliance and the Rotary Club of Marlborough.
Currently Leeber also oversees the management of the Marlborough Regional Community Foundation which administers the funds for scholarship funds for the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce Scholarship Program and scholarship funds for several companies.
Rather by being daunted by all this work, she is inspired, she said.
“I get my energy from other people and I get my purpose by fulfilling the needs of other people,” she said.
Accolades and recognition through the years
Leeber is certified by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives as a Certified Chamber Executive (CCE). This certification is the highest level of achievement in the Chamber of Commerce industry. She also graduated from the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organizational Management (IOM)
Under her leadership, the Marlborough Regional Chamber has received accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Among the many recognitions Susanne has received over the years, she was named 2004 Chamber Executive of the Year for the New England Chamber of Commerce Executives Association and 2007 Business Person of the Year from Framingham State University’s Department of Economics and Business Administration. She received the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from United Way of Tri-County and the 2008 Greater Marlborough Good Scout Award from Knox Trail Council of Boys Scouts of America, and 2016 CEO of the Year from Corporate Vision Magazine, along with several other honors.
On March 8, Leeber was honored as one of the two recipients of the 2018 ATHENA Leadership Award® by the United Way of Tri-County.
The ATHENA Awards, named after the Greek goddess of courage and wisdom, is a program of ATHENA International, which is dedicated to creating leadership opportunities for women.
Leeber was also honored with the United Way of Tri-County Distinguished Service Award at their Annual Recognition Breakfast April 5.
A retirement party for Leeber will be held Thursday, May 10 from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Best Western Royal Plaza, 181 Boston Post Road West, Marlborough. The price to attend is $50 per person and includes cash bar, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, cake and coffee. Payment for the event is by cash or check only – credit cards are not accepted. Checks should be made payable to either Jennifer Campbell or Linda Vissat and may be mailed to the chamber office, 11 Florence Street, Marlborough, MA 01752. For more information contact [email protected] or [email protected] or call 508-485-7746.
