Morrow returns to lead chamber

For Matt Morrow, the opportunity to fill one of the city’s most sought after positions was too good to pass up.

On Aug. 20, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce announced it hired the former longtime CEO of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield to lead the organization as president and CEO.

Morrow resigned from the Springfield HBA in November 2012 after nearly 12 years with the organization and relocated to Alabama to take a job as executive vice president of the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders – a group with 1,280 members, about triple the size of Springfield’s HBA. At the chamber, Morrow succeeds 26-year President Jim Anderson, who retired from the post in June and took a job in July as vice president of marketing and public affairs at CoxHealth.

“It’s home,” Morrow said in an Aug. 21 interview from his Birmingham, Ala., office. “I love the chamber and was a member for many years there. I served on the board of directors and have a great respect and appreciation for the role that organization plays in the community that we love.”

Jeff Schrag, Springfield chamber chairman and co-chair of the search committee tasked with securing Anderson’s successor, said Morrow was one of roughly 500 vying for the position.

“That’s one of the benefits you get with using a search consultant. They filter through all of those,” Schrag said of Cleveland, Ohio-based Waverly Partners LLC, who was hired earlier this year to identify top candidates for the search committee.

Schrag said 10 finalists were selected, and the search committee interviewed the top six contenders. He said Waverly Partners also furnished a list of all who had applied or inquired about the job.

Morrow said friends from Springfield told him in February Anderson was retiring, and that’s when he began considering the job. He said it was not an easy decision to even throw his hat in the ring, but he opted to test the waters after receiving a call from Waverly Partners, which contacted potentially interested parties.

Schrag said Morrow was selected based on his experience as a leader with two membership-based organizations.

“Knowing how to demonstrate and increase member value is very important to the mission of the chamber,” Schrag said, adding Morrow’s experience in government affairs also was key.

Schrag said the chamber strives to be involved whenever people are working to shape the future of the community, and that’s something Morrow understands.

“We are either at the table or have set the table any time there are important discussions going on between different parties whether they be governmental, or (public) and private, or institutional. The chamber is always there advocating for the best interest of business and the community as a whole,” Schrag said. “Matt is a proven expert at that.”

During his tenure with the Springfield HBA, Morrow was known for his advocacy efforts at the local, state and federal levels. He also previously served as an aide to former U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft.

In 2011, Morrow worked with state legislators to develop what was known as the “mandatory option” for code-adopting jurisdictions after sprinkler manufacturers successfully moved to get requisite fire sprinklers included in international building codes. Concerned the rule could amount to a large expense for builders, the mandatory option prohibited jurisdiction in the state from mandating sprinklers in single-family homes, but required builders to offer them to customers and ensure they knew the systems were available.

Longtime HBA colleague and former president Brett Godfrey, owner of Built By Brett Inc., was among local friends who encouraged Morrow to apply for the chamber job.

“I thought it was a no-brainer,” Godfrey said. “I don’t know how the chamber could have found a better advocate for the community to proceed into the 21st century.

“He has a good sense about people and how they could work together, or if they’re not working together, how to fix it.”

Godfrey, who was on the HBA search committee that selected Morrow in 2001, said the new chamber president helped grow homebuilder membership roughly 20 percent during his tenure.

In Alabama, membership at the Birmingham HBA is up 5.6 percent this year, Morrow said, and had it not been for this position opening up, he would have had no interest in leaving the job.

Morrow said he doesn’t have a starting date in Springfield, but he tentatively expects to be at the chamber full time in October. He plans to make many trips back and forth during the transition. Morrow said he wants to make sure the Birmingham HBA is well on its way to naming his successor before fully returning to Springfield.

“I’ve always believed you can learn a lot about somebody by how they leave,” Morrow said. “It’s important to me to leave well in Birmingham.”

Schrag declined to disclose the names of finalists but said the selection process was difficult.

“To use a good baseball analogy, it was like comparing someone’s throwing skills to their batting skills,” Schrag said. “Everybody had strengths in different areas.”

Morrow’s knowledge of Springfield, as well as his work experience outside of the Ozarks, helped separate him from the pack, Schrag said.

“He’s viewed the community with outside eyes,” he added. “And he has a history of successful transitions.”

Anderson said he was not surprised by Morrow’s selection and he supported the chamber’s choice. Anderson, who grew up in Ozark, left the area in 1971 to take a teaching job in Jefferson City before returning 17 years later. He said he identified with the desire to return where one’s career started.

“Sometimes you have to leave home to come home,” Anderson said.

Geoff Pickle contributed to this story.