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Brandon Burton (00:01.026)
Hello, Chamber Champions! Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton, and here on the podcast, I introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community. You’re joining us for a special episode in our 2026 ACCE Chamber of the Year finalist series. And today we’re joined by Michelle Bundren, President and CEO of the Murray-Calloway County Chamber.
Michelle is a respected chamber leader with more than 11 years of experience in the industry and a strong background in business management. Michelle made history as the first female president and CEO in her organization’s 99 year history. Her leadership has earned national recognition, including ACCE certified chamber executive designation, a distinction held by only a small percentage of chamber professionals nationwide, as well as a four star accreditation.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She’s helped lead the award-winning chamber work, including bringing home ACCE’s National Chamber of the Year honor in 2019 and continues to invest in leadership, workforce development, education, and regional collaboration across Kentucky and beyond. But Michelle, I’m excited to have you back on Chamber Chat Podcast, especially under these circumstances. It’s very exciting and big congratulations to you and you and your team.
But I wanted to give you an opportunity to say hello to everybody and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
MIchelle Bundren (01:34.558)
Sure. Well thank you so much for having me back. Obviously we’re we’re really excited to be a finalist again. it’s been what six years. so it’s been a fun and exciting s you know, six years since then. I think just interestingly, I’ve been married for twenty-two years. my husband and I both graduated from Murray State University. We have three children, fixing to be a senior in high school, which is an interesting time.
Brandon Burton (02:04.92)
Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (02:04.991)
and have a fourteen and twelve year old. So we have teenagers in our house. So I not only do you know work, but obviously that’s a full time job in itself as well. So that’s my season of life. We’re busy with them and we have two miniature dachshunds. We’re huge dog lovers. so we we we stay busy, what can I say?
Brandon Burton (02:25.986)
That’s right. That’s right. I’d forgotten how close our our kids line up pretty closely. We just had one graduate and and we’ve got a a twelve and thirteen year olds so that are still at home. But very good. Well tell us a little bit about your chamber, give us an idea of the size, staff, scope of work you guys are involved with, budget, just kind of set the stage for what you guys are doing today.
MIchelle Bundren (02:54.157)
We are in the far western part of the state of Kentucky. So if you look at us on a map, think far west Kentucky, down in the corner. Our population is about 40,000 in the county. We are anchored with Murray State University, which has made some national headlines over the years with players like Jaw Morant, who’s now in the NBA. And then last year our baseball team made it to the College World Series. So we loved being on the national on the national stage.
Through sports a couple times. Our chamber, we have about 450 chamber members. We represent about 12,000 employees through through that count of businesses. We have three full-time staff and average around a $350,000 to $400,000 budget annually. So Murray, Kentucky itself has been named friendly small town in America, and we were just recently named for
friendliest small college town in America. So we have a lot of national attention for being a small friendly town. and so the chamber’s really excited now to be putting ourselves back again on that national stage.
Brandon Burton (04:08.605)
That’s cool. I love all those opportunities to be able to be on the national stage and be like, that’s us, that’s our town. That’s cool. That is very cool.
MIchelle Bundren (04:15.495)
Yeah, we’re excited. Yeah.
Brandon Burton (04:20.28)
For those listening, if you’re curious and going back in time and and checking out the first episode we did with Michelle, it was actually episode thirty-three as a a Chamber of the Year finalist in twenty nineteen. So that that may be interesting to go back and look at. That was the first year that I did these interviews as the Chamber of the Year finalist. So yeah, come a long ways.
MIchelle Bundren (04:40.399)
okay.
Brandon Burton (04:45.612)
So with these episodes, I like to spend the majority of the time talking about the programs that are submitted on the various chambers applications for Chamber of the Year. So we’ll take a quick break and when we get back, we’ll dive into that and learn more about the impactful work you guys are involved with.
Brandon Burton (05:04.35)
All right, we are back. As I mentioned before the break, we’ll dive into the program that you guys submitted on your Chamber of the Year application. if you could tell us what what the program is, kind of where the I always like knowing the origins and of course the impact that it’s making in your community.
MIchelle Bundren (05:24.613)
Well, you know, in twenty twenty one we just got through COVID, which was fine. You know, we we won in twenty nineteen, we’re on a high and then twenty twenty and twenty twenty one kinda just took everybody. Yeah.
Brandon Burton (05:29.037)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (05:35.394)
Flat line. Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (05:37.746)
We realized through those two years that we really weren’t able to help small businesses as much as we’d hoped because we didn’t have a foundation, we didn’t have a five one C three arm to support with other things and ways. so we created it and kind of put the paperwork in motion in twenty one and really started it in twenty twenty two.
Brandon Burton (05:46.99)
Okay.
MIchelle Bundren (06:00.05)
The last two years though we’ve really seen a growth in investments from businesses, really convening people around the table on workforce programs and solutions, and really seeing an excitement around some of our workforce programs. so our synopsis that we put in was about our foundation and the work that we’re doing through the foundation, which is our five one seed three arm. And we decided that our mission starting out with that interest to introduce and educate students.
Brandon Burton (06:26.494)
Right.
MIchelle Bundren (06:30.203)
On opportunities they have to stay local if they decide to have a career here in our region, primarily in our county and city. So that’s what we did. It’s some low-hanging fruit programs of particular that would really help get students to know more about what opportunities are available here. We had some great chambers across Kentucky to be great mentors to us, you know, larger chambers.
Brandon Burton (06:50.592)
Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (06:59.913)
larger resources we got for them and kind of hear what they were doing and we started for eighth grade career exploration with them called Spark because we wanted to spark a career interest in a student maybe and how to make it stay here local. We introduced that to two school districts. Now we have four school districts attending it’s over 500 students that are involved in coming and we have over 30 businesses about 40 businesses sitting up with about
Brandon Burton (07:00.814)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (07:13.686)
Yeah.
We should have some.
MIchelle Bundren (07:29.843)
90 plus experiences that they can get introduced to career opportunities happening here in our region. We also started a teacher externship program, which is called Lyft Leadership Initiative for Teachers. We take teachers from each school district, we have two here, and put them through an externship program where it helps them get resources they need and connections they need with businesses. And then we help them better be better prepared to go back in the classroom.
Brandon Burton (07:40.43)
Well very much the actual eighth one.
MIchelle Bundren (07:59.716)
To prepare their students for careers in the future. We’ve seen some amazing conversations come out of that. one of them connected to the hospital and has now created this program and shadowing with some of their students and class, you know, their classes can go to the hospital and it’s really created a great partnership that they never would have had without the connection that we helped create through that program. and then, you know, there was partnership on a with our university on a kind of
Brandon Burton (08:25.275)
Yeah, okay.
MIchelle Bundren (08:29.609)
Of an after-school program for females interested in engineering. That was all an exciting idea that came out of the class that’s now coming to fruition. That we just really helped connect the people and then got out of the way and let them create kind of those connections and furthering students’ opportunities. So that’s some of the exciting outcomes. And then even just through our Spark, one of our school districts only had 10 to 15 students going into our area technology center, which is where they learn about trades, electrical.
Brandon Burton (08:45.688)
Mm.
MIchelle Bundren (08:59.559)
plumbing, welding, things like that. After our program, the year the next year they had over a hundred students enrolled in the program, you know, from ten to thirteen. so we’re really educating and introducing students to those opportunities. We’ve been seniors, high school seniors, we reach about four hundred of those a year, getting them ready for the jobs that they could get in May in May if they don’t know kind of what their career path is. So we’ve had lots of successful programs. I only see them growing
Brandon Burton (09:04.436)
Yeah, sure.
Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (09:29.679)
And our investors have grown the past two years. We had just a handful, and now we have, you know, probably twenty-five investors and people around the table helping us make these decisions. So it’s been very exciting and been something I’m very passionate about the last couple years.
Brandon Burton (09:43.567)
I love that. So I I was gonna come back to that and ask about the the funding side of the foundation because as you notice through COVID, the impact that a foundation can have and if you’re positioned right to be able to deploy those funds in the community. so aside from grants, are you I I assume you’re you’re going after grants for some of this as well. but what’s the positioning like for the
to try to find the funding to get people to invest in the workforce development throughout your county.
MIchelle Bundren (10:19.067)
We actually have had no grants so far. This is all Yeah. It’s all been funded through business local business leaders. You know, we really convened them to the table to hear what their issues were. It was, you know, we don’t feel like students are prepared for the jobs that we, you know, have. And then we convened with the schools and it was like, What are you seeing? and really brought both to the table. we meet about once a quarter now, bringing just various industries together.
Brandon Burton (10:22.277)
really? Okay. Very cool.
MIchelle Bundren (10:49.589)
And really they’ve all stepped up to invest. we raise about fifty thousand plus annually through them currently to manage and kind of organize our programs. Plus we have sponsors, additional sponsors that help lead the different programs as well. So we’re running a pretty strong budget so far to to do these kind of year over year. Yes, we’ll be looking at grant opportunities to really increase our programming and really help us be more.
profitable right now kind of just funding the work that we do currently but they’ve all are invested and eager to help go get other businesses involved because we really have shown them and the return on investment that they really are getting work done for the money that they’re putting in and it’s impactful to the students. So that’s been very exciting.
Brandon Burton (11:21.229)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (11:44.151)
Yeah, no, that is that’s great that you haven’t had to go after grants yet, but obviously opportunities there. so you have these investors that invest in the foundation, but then you mentioned with each actual event you have individual sponsors that help make those events come together. So th there’s additional funding that comes into that. So that’s great. so you you talked about gathering them together at the table from
MIchelle Bundren (11:48.039)
Not yet.
Brandon Burton (12:13.826)
the different employment sectors in the schools. So I’m c I’m always curious from the schools. Who are you getting? Is it the superintendent? Is it those who are involved with writing the curriculum for the schools? certain teachers, how how do you go about getting that side to come to the table?
MIchelle Bundren (12:32.935)
So we c first convened our guidance counselors and ’cause you know, businesses were saying students aren’t prepared. So we went to the schools and said, Hey, businesses are saying students aren’t prepared you know, to which they would say we are preparing them.
Brandon Burton (12:40.973)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (12:49.041)
Right.
MIchelle Bundren (12:49.437)
So we created sort of what we call a roadmap. Okay, where K through twelve are they receiving some kind of workforce connection or education? And so we looked to see where those holes were. That meeting was with guidance counselors. So we saw eighth grade was a great opportunity, juniors and seniors were a great opportunity. and then our teacher program really hits K through twelve. so those were kind of how we figured out the strategy of programs and initiatives.
And where to hit. Our board for our foundation is made up of the assistant superintendent at one school district, and they’re very much involved in the curriculum. Actually, I got an email last week asking them to for us to come look at a new software program and curriculum they’re looking at because there’s a whole engagement on business community resources, and they want us at the table in that conversation. So that’s been encouraging. So, yes, we discussed current.
Brandon Burton (13:43.798)
That’s awesome.
MIchelle Bundren (13:49.321)
curriculum. They went with us on our DC fly in last year to meet with the US Chamber. We’re very impressed by
they have a four chambers, you know, for education partnerships. and our superintendent and our assistant superintendent went on that trip. So th that’s who’s at the table when it comes to the to the school district. So that’s been really great to have the leadership at the top adjusting and knowing what’s going on throughout the schools.
Brandon Burton (14:04.362)
Yeah,
Brandon Burton (14:22.018)
So you had mentioned one of these programs that has come out through the foundation was this teacher externship. I d I find that to be very curious. I’d like to learn more about what that looks like and how you get the teachers in the businesses and what the how is that structured.
MIchelle Bundren (14:39.027)
we met with a couple teachers who were a little bit jealous of our leadership program. You know, they couldn’t come to stuff because it’s kind of during the day. And you know, we heard from them, you know, we would love something similar. And then we’d heard from the business, you know, and this kind of foundation board, you know, we need to reach kids. And so we were like, well, why don’t we create a teacher program? we looked at some other models and the teacher externship we created was basically they apply and we took
Brandon Burton (14:46.166)
Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (15:08.681)
Take you know, several the same amount from each school district. And K through twelve industry, any kind of subject matter.
And the sponsorship covers the substitute teacher for the day so that the school district doesn’t have to worry about that. and then all the program materials and the transportation and all that is raised through sponsorships. so the businesses are engaged. At the end of it, we have a business education round table where we talk about what they learned and then get feedback from both. but basically it’s five sessions. We do an initial session to get to know them and talk about the resources and things.
things that they need to get out of the program. And then we connect them throughout the next few months to businesses. We take them to our manufacturers, we take them to the hospital, we take them to different industry sectors. And and the conversation is careers. what all careers are available, what talents and passions do they need to help connect their students, you know, with the interests that maybe, you know, they have of that talent. and so that’s kind of how we structured it.
Brandon Burton (15:50.99)
Yeah, so
MIchelle Bundren (16:17.553)
And then the substitute teacher thing has been critical because it’s already hard for the already. so the fact that we help the sponsorship help study that it’s been really
Brandon Burton (16:20.078)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (16:27.625)
Yeah, I could see that being a little bit of friction of well, who’s gonna cover for me when I’m gone, right? but I also wondered if if it might take place during the summer sometime or you know, but they probably want to do it when they’re being paid. I don’t know, there’s all the different nuances to it, but
MIchelle Bundren (16:30.734)
Yes.
MIchelle Bundren (16:45.051)
We kinda line it up with our business series with our chamber. So they attend our our lunches. you know, they get to meet and hear from and those and then they elect a class leader. So when they graduate, it’ll be that last
Brandon Burton (16:48.365)
Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (16:58.339)
I think it’s our November lunch. They s we have a class person come and speak and talk about their experience and what they learned and we give certificates and and all that. So we really have tried to give them that platform at even our chamber events to get their voice because they want to feel heard, you know, as educators. Sometimes they feel tucked in the classroom and they are key leaders in our community and and the chamber’s really been able to bring them out and help them get the exposure and attention they need.
Brandon Burton (17:25.804)
Yeah. And I assume that the the end outcome is having them promote these different job opportunities throughout the community to their students in the classroom. So as they talk about the things that they learned, what kind of things are they sharing that they take back to the classroom or what what are some of their takeaways?
MIchelle Bundren (17:47.058)
Sure. So a lot of the students really kind of know what their parents do. You know, so taking the teachers to the manufacturing facility, for example, and hearing that, you know, maybe they hear from their students that mom and dad work on the line or, you know, whatever, they don’t know that there’s a whole administrative team or a whole HR team or logistics team. so what they’re hearing from our businesses is and even in healthcare, you know, there’s a whole administrative side to it. There’s you don’t have to
Be a doctor, there’s nurses, and then there’s radiology, and there’s all these different skill levels and jobs out there that the teachers themselves didn’t even know exist. and so if they go out of the classroom and actually experience it and hear from it, they leave with connections and resources for the students. Maybe there’s internship or job shadowing opportunities that now they know about and have seen and heard and have the connection to the HR manager or whatever, they can now go back in and help their students connect.
To those opportunities and connect to those businesses. We’ve seen a lot of success. I know our next step will definitely be connecting more job shadowing opportunities, which will be critical to have the teachers and the schools involved in that. But that’s some of the things that we’ve heard is, you know, you know, they don’t have the resources or know who to contact sometimes to bring in guest speakers to their classroom. And now they’ve said they have a lot of people, business, you know, now that we’ve created that connection, they have those expertise.
Experts coming into their classroom, or they’re creating their own kind of externship with their students where they’re taking a handful who are maybe interested in healthcare and now connecting them to the radiology department. I say that because that’s one particular area of need we have here in Murray is radiology. Now you see the scholarship opportunities that maybe the the students see.
Brandon Burton (19:33.838)
Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (19:46.784)
didn’t know about and now this the teachers have all that information that they can bring back in the classroom to help one on one champion their students to pick a career path that’s perfect or the best fit for them. and so that’s been a a huge outcome for us is just having people they respect and love, the teachers, be a role model for them in kind of shaping their future.
Brandon Burton (20:10.734)
So when I was growing up, my dad was in pharmaceuticals. So he was always coming home talking about the new drug that he was pushing, you know, that he’s selling. So when I was in third grade, we did the whole, you know, what do your parents do for work? And all I knew is that my dad sold drugs. So that that spurred a a phone call home. And I’m glad that I got other exposure to other industries so I didn’t have to follow
MIchelle Bundren (20:29.021)
I’m sure.
MIchelle Bundren (20:35.259)
That’s good. Yeah. So I’m sure that was very interesting for the teachers to hear.
Brandon Burton (20:36.736)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (20:41.6)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. So but yeah, having that exposure to the different opportunities is is so crucial because you’re right. Most of them only know what their parents do. And even at that, they don’t really know the extent of what it is that their parents do. They just know what what gets shared and what what gets talked about in the home. is there anything else from the foundation that you want to highlight and make sure that that you get to shine some light on?
MIchelle Bundren (21:11.349)
I just think if you have if your chamber hasn’t gotten into workforce development work, it really is rewarding and it really is what businesses need. you know, we talk a lot about succession plans and in our community and business, and it’s really an investment in your future to make sure you have that workforce talent developed for the future. I know a lot of times us chambers, we like to do promotion and ribbon cuttings and celebrations. and this is kind of the lesser sexy work, I guess, that you could call it.
It but it really is the most critical for our community that their businesses are preparing for the future workforce. And so that’s been really big for us to help kind of get our businesses to understand what we’re doing to help that this really is a business issue. instead of us just wanting to be in the schools all the time. You know, it’s really a long game plan and strategy.
Brandon Burton (22:00.217)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (22:08.478)
And I like to think of it as the workforce development is really what changes lives of the individuals that are going to be the employees, but also the employers and the impact they can how they can better serve the the community and be more of an impact themselves throughout the community. So it’s important work. so I like to ask for those listening for a tip or action item to
Help those listening who want to take their organization up to the next level, what might you offer for them?
MIchelle Bundren (22:43.483)
Hmm, trying to take it up to the next level. I think one thing that’s been critical for us and it’s been really not easy, even with our board, you know, we used to kind of sit here at the office and wait for business to happen or come to us. and really it’s a shift in our organization. You know, we are out and about a lot. we’re not sitting here waiting for phone calls. We’ve kind of invested in technology as much as we can to be present.
or available through technology, you know, either ring camera or, you know, phone, laptop, all those things. But the idea for us is if we’re not out connecting with people or or doing something, you know, that’s the best use of our time is to be out doing something, not sitting here at the office waiting for a phone call. that’s taking a shift because you know I think sometimes people they’re not in the office, they’re not working.
Brandon Burton (23:40.782)
Yeah.
MIchelle Bundren (23:41.318)
That’s definitely not true. And that’s for a small town like us, it’s a shift because that’s not the model that we’ve had for ninety nine years of business. but for us it’s we’re known for those connections. We’re known for who who the company we keep used to be a tagline of ours way back in the day. and so I really do think that we you’ve gotta kinda think bigger picture with with some of the work that we’re doing for small chambers, one staff, two staff, three staff.
it’s don’t just sit there in the office and kind of feel like you have to man the office. Get out there and build connections and make things happen. and that’s what we’ve seen a lot of success with the last couple of years.
Brandon Burton (24:24.856)
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense, but it is a perception shift to be able to get that imaging out there and and part of that, I mean, social media can be helpful with that when you can show your members what you’re doing and that you’re out connecting with others and and doing all that. well, Michelle, you may remember from last time, but I like asking everyone I have on the show about how you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward.
MIchelle Bundren (24:55.489)
god I yeah, you sent me this and I was trying to think about it. and we talked about it a little bit, but I think just the idea that chambers just host parades and festivals and events y and and things like that are really not the future of chambers. It’s definitely
convening conversations. We’re we’re great greatly positioned for that because we’re kinda neutral politically and local government, business, education, you know, nonprofits. We work a lot with nonprofits and we’re kind of greatly situated to really convene conversations around critical issues. and you really as a chamber have to kind of put yourself there and really step out and lead in that in that way and kind of make yourself
Hey, I want to be at the table of this. Like let’s put get the chamber at the table. Cause a lot of small chambers I work with, ’cause you know, I’m really connected to ones in Kentucky, they’re bored and their community doesn’t view their chamber as an organization that can do more than just ribbon cuttings or more than just a celebration, like I said.
Brandon Burton (25:50.744)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (26:07.052)
Just crazy. Why are you on the board then, right?
MIchelle Bundren (26:09.121)
I know. they just like it to be on the resume or they’re just happy with what what’s always been. but and then sometimes they’re nervous. I get that. I think when they think policy, they think politics and it’s messy and
But really that’s that’s the future is sitting at the table with community leaders, helping solve problems, and you know, making sure the resources are there and any role the chamber can play in helping connect or bring people around a critical issue is really important. there’s always things going on and I think sometimes we’re like, Well, what does the chamber think about it?
It’s sometimes that’s a great question and we should have a voice and sometimes it’s a situation we can stay out of. but the fact that they’re asking our opinion or asking us is means that they value what we do and who we are, ’cause we are the business community. We’re the voice of business. and so we we don’t take that lightly. but we’re so much more than just, you know, meeting for fellowship with the board and eating of lunch together and
you know, me having an event, it’s it’s definitely more than that. And so if you can as a chamberleader, and I’m speaking with small chambers here, really help your board cast a vision for being more, then that’s a really big deal and a really step a big step forward for them.
Brandon Burton (27:34.156)
Yeah, absolutely. I love that answer. Michelle, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who might want to reach out and connect and learn more about how you guys are doing things there at the the Murray-Calloway County Chamber. Where would you point them and what would be the best way to connect?
MIchelle Bundren (27:51.881)
Sure. you can always email me, michelle@mymurray.com. I you can call our office 270-753-5171. But definitely email. I’ll get it on my phone and all the places. So I I stay pretty connected to that.
Brandon Burton (28:19.592)
Very good. We’ll get that in our show notes to make it nice and easy. But I think it’s fantastic that you guys are putting in the work to be selected as a Chamber of the Year finalist again. And I wish you guys the best of luck.
MIchelle Bundren (28:34.088)
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
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