Zygarlicke stepping down as CEO of La Crosse’s chamber of commerce

Neal Zygarlicke is stepping down as CEO of the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce.

Zygarlicke has been CEO for the past three and a half years and said he is stepping down to “embrace a new executive leadership role at a longtime, family-owned business within the La Crosse Area community,” according to a social media post from the chamber.

“We didn’t even know he was looking,” Tiffany Rice, event coordinator at the chamber, told WIZM. “I don’t even think he was looking. It sounds like there was an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up. But he’s super sad to leave the chamber. We’re sad to see him go. He’s done wonderful things for the chamber, the La Crosse business community.”

Rice said they got the news last Friday. She also noted that there won’t be an interim director taking over for Zygarlicke.

“We have an incredible team at the Chamber of Commerce so I think we’re going to rally together and keep business as usual while the search goes on for a new CEO,” she said. “We have an incredible board of directors right now, too, so they’ll guide us through that process.”

How long that takes, Rice said there is no timeline.

“No, not at all,” she said. “Like I said, this is still very fresh. I know that the board has to meet. The board will have conversations with us, the employees, as to what that looks like. So, yeah, no timeline.”

Rice did, however, say Zygarlicke would be making the chamber’s big golf outing in two weeks, of course. And she said they likely will have a CEO by the time the Young Professional awards happen in mid-January.

The chamber does have a big women’s leadership summit in mid-October, but she joked that Zygarlicke wouldn’t be much of a part of that anyway.