John Nixon John Nixon Photography
David Polakowski has never met a stranger.
“I love networking,” he says.
In January 2020, Polakowski stepped into the role of executive director for the Tri-Village Chamber Partnership, but his tenure didn’t last long. To better reflect what Polakowski was doing for the chamber and business community, in January 2021 he was reintroduced as president and CEO.
“In the business world, as a chamber of commerce, (the title) aligns better with the business community that we work with,” he says.
During his year as executive director, the chamber had to adapt in order to efficiently serve the business community during the pandemic.
“We had to become relevant,” says Polakowski. “We transitioned everything to virtual. We still do virtual events and plan on doing them at least until June.”
One of the chamber programs prospering even on a virtual platform is the Be Your Best Self program.
“The vision with this program is to foster a dynamic group of diverse individuals who support the empowerment of women and who are committed to supporting each other’s pursuit of excellence,” says Polakowski.
The success of this program exemplifies Tri-Village’s dedication to making the community better. That support system, Polakowski says, extends to the chamber and small business community, too.
“The area has great people,” he says. “Very supportive, very committed to community, and I think one of the biggest assets of who we are as a chamber is the community investment.”
Polakowski is committed to pouring that same level of investment back into the community.
“I cannot wait to get back to in person because the main benefit of being in the chamber is networking and bringing businesses together and individuals, so that there are opportunities for them to meet and grow their business and share what they do,” he says. “Over the past year, we’ve really, truly had to create a platform that provided that opportunity.”
Though new to the role with the chamber, he has built a 30-year career in the nonprofit sector and spent a significant amount of time in the Columbus area where he raised his two now-adult children with husband John Shepard. Over the course of those 30 years of experience, Polakowski learned the importance of a network and community.
“I actually started out in a chamber of commerce in the mid-’90s up in Mount Vernon. I’ve been in a variety of positions with different nonprofits, and I worked in public health,” Polakowski says. “I was up in Painesville, Ohio, working for an organization called Downtown Painesville Organization, and prior to that, I had spent 19 years in central Ohio.”
Polakowski returned to Columbus after living in Painesville following his husband’s retirement in 2018.
“I was finishing my stint as the executive director of the Downtown Painesville Organization and just wanted to relocate back here,” he says. “I was applying for jobs, and (Shepard) took a position before I did, and then I got the position with the chamber.”
In his role as chamber president/CEO, Polakowski has employed his love for networking to bring the chamber community together.
“What I really enjoy in my job, and one of my strengths, is the ability to sit back and bring people together,” he says. “As I bring them together and they grow, they start offshoots of our circle so there’s different things building and businesses growing because of the network that we’ve been creating.”
A major part of that growth mindset for the Tri-Village Chamber Partnership is increasing membership.
“We’d like to grow our chamber,” Polakowski says. “We’re probably right around 380, 390 members and I think there’s a lot of room to grow. This year we’d like to be right around the 425 mark.”
Alongside his goals for growth, Polakowski has high hopes for the Tri-Village community.
“My goal is to make things as positive as possible,” he says. “As horrible as 2020 was with the pandemic, I think there’s a lot of lessons learned and a lot of growth that has happened. And I think we need to focus on that growth moving forward.”
Q&A with David Polakowski:
Tri-Village Magazine: Best book you read during the pandemic?
David Polakowski: I’m not really a reader. I read usually when I’m on vacation, but with the book club, our first book club read was Retrofit: The Playbook for Modern Moms.
TV: Biggest life lesson learned during the pandemic?
DP: You had to either swim or sink, and I was not about to sink.
TV: Favorite hobby?
DP: Traveling. Of course, traveling you can’t do as much right now. I love gardening and working on our house.
TV: Next place to visit when it’s safe to travel?
DP: My daughter lives in Germany with her wife, and she’s been there since September. Our goal was to go to Europe this summer to visit them. We’re playing that by ear.
TV: Go-to restaurant or meal to make at home?
DP: There’s so many different choices in the Tri-Village area. I’m waiting to experience more, but for some reason lately it’s been wings and salad. I’m trying to eat healthier.
TV: How will you be spending St. Paddy’s Day?
DP: I’m Polish, so I have no Irish in me. I’ll just be sitting back and waiting for us to get the clear to be out doing more public things!
For more information about the Tri-Village Chamber Partnership, visit www.chamberpartnership.org.
Sarah Robinson is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.