Think MHK Podcast Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce

The Think MHK Podcast is back with season four! We are opening up our season by sitting down with City Manager, Ron Fehr, who is wrapping up two-plus decades of service to the City of Manhattan. In the episode, Fehr discusses how he got into city management, after starting with the parks and recreation department in 1982. He highlights how partnerships with the chamber, university, and business community were key to the city's success during his tenure and reflects on the challenges. Fehr also reveals a hidden talent that you do not want to miss!

For the final episode of season 3, we welcome Brian Peete, Director of the Riley County Police Department. In this episode, Brian shares his story from growing up with two parents in the Chicago Police Department to his time in the Air Force and his past Chief of Police experiences all the way to what attracted him to come to Manhattan. Brian also shares what he views RCPD's role in the community is and what surprised him most about Manhattan.

On this episode of the ThinkMHK podcast, Jason is joined by guest Mary Martell, Vice President and Regional Administrator of Stormont Vail. Mary recently moved to Manhattan to run Stormont Vail's new Manhattan location. She shares the history of Stormont Vail, why they decided to invest in Manhattan and details on their new location on N. Manhattan Ave. Mary also shares why she personally decided to move to Manhattan, the excitement she's found in The Little Apple® and why she has chosen to be a part of the Chamber world.

This week we hear from the new Director of Visit Manhattan, Marcia Rozell. Marcia has served Visit Manhattan for the last 13 years as the Sports and Leisure Manager and in May of 2023 she was promoted to Director. Listen in as Marcia shares what first brought her to Manhattan, some of her favorite events she's helped bring to Manhattan, her goals for the first year and so much more.

In April of 2023, we welcomed the new Military Relations Manager, Christian Bishop to the Chamber team. Christian has been at the forefront of engagement between Fort Riley and the Flint Hills community for nearly 15 years as part of the Fort Riley team. Listen to this week's podcast to learn more about Christian's past career working with Fort Riley, how she received the nickname "Ms. Manhattan", the key initiatives for her new position and ways to get involved with the Chamber's Military Relations Committee.

This week we welcome Vern Henricks President/CEO of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Did you know that GMCF is the largest community foundation in the whole State of Kansas?! While on the podcast Vern dives into what the GMCF is, who they serve, their big events like Grow Green Match Day and more.