The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce (Formerly The North Penn Chamber) has elected Robert W. Zelnick of Center Valley, a Coaldale native, the new Chamber President & CEO.

He brings a wealth of diversified business experience with nine companies, including Aetna, Leeds & Northrup, Riegel Paper, Carpenter Technology, BravoHealth and others to help grow the chamber, which has about 1,000 members. Zelnick also operated his own business, Zelco-Services, an insurance brokerage, for the past 12 years. His wife, Sharon Fletcher, will now assume the helm of that Company, which keys on medicare/medicaid recipients.A journalism graduate of Penn State University, Zelnick also holds advanced degrees from Lehigh U. and Temple U. He is a U.S. Navy veteran.Most recently, he worked in telesales for The Corporate Call Center in Blue Bell, on accounts such as Clarian Health Plan of Indiana, Aetna-Cosco and Sears. He was assigned the part time challenge through The Carney Group of Blue Bell, who specializes in matching seniors with job opportunities. "At my age, this was a God-send," according to Zelnick.He is targeting all businesses for growth and has selected several new key targets for immediate action: churches, doctors/dentists/chiropractors and retired business executives.The Chamber is pro-business and expects to become even more vocal about major issues that affect business growth: taxation, regulation, healthcare, etc. "Business needs to grow and be profitable," Zelnick said. "Everything stems from a prosperous economy.""We work closely with legislators at the local, state and national level through our governmental committee." The Chamber also has other active committees: Women's Network, Small Business, Human Resources and the Ambassador's Club, for example. Members volunteer to work with these groups.The new CEO once volunteered as vp-membership with the former North Penn Chamber.In 1988, he led the North Penn United Way drive. And he was heavily involved with The Lansdale Senior Center (now called PEAK).Zelnick resides in Center Valley, with his wife, and stepchildren John Fletcher, a manager at Rave Motion Pictures, and Kaitlyn Fletcher, a physical therapy student at Lehigh County Community College. His son, Robert, is a partner and intellectual property attorney with McCormick, Wills and Emery, Washington, DC.