Elgin Chamber Elects Kenna Collins as President, Plans Membership Push

Kenna Collins, who has led the Elgin Chamber of Commerce on an interim basis since September 2025, was formally elected president by the chamber board in February, stepping into a one-year term with a clear agenda: a new website, a membership push, and tighter ties to the broader Union County business community.

Collins joins a five-member board that includes Jessica Miller as vice president, Jill Williamson as secretary, Kathy Rysdam as treasurer, and Tiffany Lambert as media specialist.

A Union County native and Elgin High School graduate, Collins built her professional identity around entrepreneurship. She earned a massage therapy license at Ashmead College in Tigard, then launched her own practice 19 years ago in Forest Grove before returning home. "After moving back to Union County, I have been working almost 11 years now in massage therapy as an employee of Miller Chiropractic in La Grande," she said, adding that she plans to open a part-time massage room in Elgin later this year. Her business background extends further: she has spent five years in commercial dog breeding, raising and selling Pomskies, a designer cross between Pomeranians and Siberian huskies. She and her husband, Corey Collins, live in Elgin and have raised six children.

That accumulated business experience shapes how Collins sees her chamber role. "I understand what a chamber is supposed to be doing for the businesses in their community, and I look forward to making that happen," she said. "We have a younger group on the board now with lots of energy, so everyone is willing to put forth the effort."

Her first major project is consolidating former Elgin websites into a single new site, Elginoregon.com. Collins envisions the site as a practical hub: listings of community businesses and services with direct links, a QR code, and a resource section covering available grants, grant writers, and grant workshops. "We're building on the foundation that came before us, and my goal is to get us current with our technology and availability," she said. Once the site is built, media specialist Tiffany Lambert will take over maintenance and handle the chamber's Facebook presence. The chamber's Facebook page is searchable under "Elgin Oregon Community News and Happenings," a name Collins said was chosen because predecessor pages "Elgin Oregon News" and "Elgin Happenings" will become unavailable.

Beyond the website, Collins wants to deepen the chamber's relationships with local businesses, residents, and the Union County Chamber of Commerce, with membership growth as the explicit goal.