Starlin reflects on tenure as Wooster Chamber president
After a long tenure as president of the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce, Justin Starlin, right, is the new owner of Compak along with Jeff Baker, left. Jerry Baker, center, sold the logistics and warehousing business located in Wooster and in Ashland.
Over the course of Justin Starlin’s professional career, he has spent his time in the public eye. But for the first time in his adult life, Starlin will earn his paychecks in the private sector.
Starlin, who served as the president of the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce since 2013, stepped down from the position he held for eight years on Oct. 5. He will be succeeded by Samira Zimmerly, the first female leader of the longstanding stalwart of the Wooster community.
Starlin recently sat down in an exclusive interview to reflect on his time at the chamber, what his future holds, and challenges facing the organization and city of Wooster moving forward.
Q: So after eight years at the chamber and another decade at the City of Wooster, what’s next for you?
A: If you are running a nonprofit — and that’s what we are here at the chamber — I subscribe to the theory you should try to make a difference in your tenure. But there is also an art to knowing when your time is up.
The organization is going to transition into good hands. But over my eight years I’ve built a real close relationship with Jerry Baker. Jerry and I are not only close friends, but I respect all of the work he’s done, how much of a go-getter he is, and those people who are customers of his, they speak highly of him.
I had the opportunity to buy Compak, which is (Jerry Baker’s) logistics and warehousing business in Wooster and in Ashland.
Q: What will be your role at Compak and why was this a good fit for you?
A: It is a partnership between myself and his son, Jeff Baker. I’ll be more of the new ventures, contract relations, relationship management and new systems. Jeff will be our chief operating officer. So he does a great job understanding the day-to-day operations, and that’s what his role will be.
But also, I never want to leave the community. It’s not only home, with all of my friends and family here, but I’ve built a professional network here as well. It seemed like the natural progression to transition to the private sector.
I’ve been in the public eye, in the public sector even though the chamber is a not-for-profit, for 17 years. I love that work. But that public service component is something I will try to remain active in post-chamber.
Q: What were you most proud of during your time at the chamber?
A: Overall, when you look at the brand perspective and how much we are involved, I’m really proud of how we’ve built that up. Our staff has worked really hard at this, and it’s a lot of time and effort.
For instance, when you look at our social-media following, we are at 14,000 followers. That’s significant. That allows us to be players when you look at promoting what our members are doing or if we’re having input on where the community is headed.
You look at the building, and it was circa 1985 when I got here. That’s all been changed out and positions us for the future. But I also appreciate where our internal operations are at, which is something a lot of members might not see. I leave it in good hands, and it’s definitely a professionally run organization with good policies and good controls in place.
And as cheesy as it sounds, we completely reconfigured WoosterFest. The main stage used to be in front of where Seattle’s Coffee was at. But I pushed the staff to come up with new ideas and grow the event. Now we have craft beers down there and a bunch of wines, as an example. Back in the day, WoosterFest had three domestics, and that was it.
So just making sure that as the years go by, we became relevant but also tried to be a little edgy and maybe leading things too. Levity is a beautiful thing.
Q: What was something you were unable to tackle but would like to have addressed more thoroughly during your tenure?
A: I really wish that we could have pushed a little harder on the residential component. That is a continuing need, especially for our industry in town. That is something that is definitely lacking.
I think that the private sector will probably run with that a little bit more. But the chamber and other local stakeholders will definitely help push for that as well.
Q: In the next five years, what are the biggest challenges for the city and the chamber?
A: For the chamber it’s being able to rebound strong when the COVID-19 restrictions get lifted. It’s really hard to engage members and bring the community together during this time. Networking is a huge component for the chamber and business community. That’s going to come back, but it’s going to be a challenge to bring people in.
Community-wise, if we don’t build a workforce by engaging our youth and building our infrastructure, whatever that is, industry will really struggle here. Whether it’s developing new housing, social-service programs that bring people here or keeping our schools strong, it’s tough to grow without workers.
We are at a breaking point. If we don’t have the ability to grow our community and grow our workforce, industry will really struggle here. We better grow as a community and support industry with a viable workforce or we stand a real chance at taking a step back as a community.
We need to promote the industry that is here and try to retain the talent that’s here now. I don’t think that attracting new industry to Wooster — while we should have the infrastructure for that to occur — I really do believe that if we don’t retain the people we have, we will be losers in that game. You can bring in new business, but if it’s going to knock out industries that are currently in town, you’re at a net negative.