Priscilla Heisted wears cute little shoes, but they will be tough to fill when she is gone.

Fortunately, the board of the Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce found a new director with extensive local, state and national experience in fund-raising and marketing, as well as an eagerness to help her hometown continue to grow and change.

Heisted’s last day of work is July 7, but Jill Johnson has already taken over the big chair at the chamber office.

Heisted, her husband and two daughters are moving to a smallish city in Illinois so that she can fulfill her dream of going to law school at Northern Illinois University. She plans on becoming a lawyer representing business interests in union negotiations, a job that will complement her Master’s degree in human resources.

“I’ve always wanted to go to law school,” she said. “I just took a little detour.”

Heisted leaves the chamber as a much different organization than it was six years and six months ago.

“Priscilla has done a wonderful job of increasing membership and giving value to membership,” said Randy Bradford, manager of the Coachman Inn and vice chairman of the chamber’s board of directors. Today, the chamber is 460 members strong and growing, up from the 285 when Heisted started.

When Heisted was hired, the chamber had just built a new visitor center on Highway 20 to replace the old mobile-home office. She started off with a couple of outdated computers in a mostly-empty building, precarious finances and divided support among the board members.

The organization is now financially stable and operates with the technology that today even the small businesses rely on ‑ computerized record-keeping and billing, as well as a user-friendly Web site.

“One of my biggest accomplishments from an operations standpoint is to bring us into the 21st Century as far as technology,” she said.

The chamber runs the big events is Oak Harbor, including the Fourth of July parade and fireworks. People who watched the show Tuesday night may not realize it, but local businesses paid for the expensive pyrotechnics.

Heisted was also responsible for bringing most of the Holland Happening events from the high school to downtown, which helps in the city’s goal to revitalize the area.

Though she’s known for being friendly, modest and sometimes a bit silly, Heisted didn’t hide from controversy. She’s spoken to the Oak Harbor City Council on a number of occasions to advocate for business interests or sternly complain about council decisions.

Beyond the high-profile events, Heisted has also taken a behind-the-scenes approach to building business, especially tourism. She served on the Island County Economic Development Council board, the board for National Night Out and the city’s Windjammer Committee for downtown redevelopment.

She’s also proud of her role in the county-wide tourism effort and acts as the liaison between the marketing company and the board. More recently, she took on the daunting task of collecting information about all the businesses in the area for the city’s new tourism-related Web site.

“The hardest part about the job,” she said, “is balancing the needs of so many different businesses of all different sizes.”

On the Chamber board, for example, is the local manager of Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, and the owner of a one-person jewelry store.

Johnson comes from a very different background than Priscilla, but she plans on keeping the chamber moving on the same track.

Before moving back to Oak Harbor, Johnson was part of the high-powered, intense world of political fund raising. She helped Republican candidates, state Republican parties and the National Senate Committee fill war chests so they can continue to run the world.

Two years ago, she gave it up to return to Oak Harbor and be close to her family. She took a marketing job at Whidbey Island Bank. She became a well-known face in the community for her role in successful campaigns to convince voters to fund a new stadium and remodel the high school.

Johnson jumped at the chance of becoming the new chamber director. She said she’s excited by all the activity going on in the business sector, especially with the city’s big Windjammer plan for revitalizing the downtown area.

“The plans for downtown are going to be pretty defining for the community,” she said. “I want to be part of that conversation. I don’t want to miss out.”

You can reach Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or 675-6611.