Rory Ring

The Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce has chosen a local professional, with broad-based business experience in planning, development and innovation, to take over the leadership of its organization, when its current president retires later this year.  Chamber Board Chairman Mike Elliott announced that Rory Ring, a well-known member of the local financial management and business development community, has been selected to serve as the organization’s 8th chief executive. He will continue and advance the local business agenda that is being guided by current Chamber President Garry McDonald, who will be retiring in mid-December after 12 years as the face and voice of local business in the Sarnia-Lambton community.   “We are most fortunate to have secured for our members another leader who has a practical understanding of the challenges and interests of local business, backed by a firm commitment to the unqualified success of Sarnia-Lambton,” said Chairman Elliott. “Rory sees the potential that local business and our greater community possess and has a vision for its future that the Chamber members and our affiliates will want to actively share and help to accomplish.”     A resident of Sarnia for close to 15 years, Ring began his local career as a program manager with the Sarnia-Lambton Council for Economic Renewal, the predecessor of the community’s economic development facilitator, the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership. Since that time, he has held business financing and development positions in both the private and public sectors, predominantly helping urban and rural entrepreneurs to effectively plan, manage and grow their businesses. Ring, who has served several terms as a volunteer director on the Chamber board, holds an MBA from Queen’s University/Kingston and a BA in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario/London. He resides in Sarnia-Lambton with his two sons, both of whom are involved in post-secondary school studies.  The Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce represents close to 1,000 businesses in Sarnia and across Lambton County and has been a large and effective Voice of Business in our community since 1905. Our members employ over 19,000 persons in Sarnia Lambton. For its members the Chamber provides Connections to other members and local, provincial and national governments and agencies, Support through member discounts and exclusive services, Community Betterment project leadership and Advocacy in areas of government affairs and policy, energy, transportation and infrastructure and border issues.