Photo Credit: Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce

David Bradley.

The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce has named a North Carolina chamber executive as its new CEO.

David Bradley is currently president of the Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce in suburban Charlotte. The Guillford College graduate has also worked in manufacturing and served as president of the chamber in Mount Airy, NC. In Statesville, he served on the downtown development, regional development, and convention and visitors' bureau boards, led the effort to create a strategic plan for the city and co-founded a community theater group and a film festival.

AACOC board chair Shannon Wilder said that Bradley has a proven track record of growing membership, increasing revenue and finding common ground on community-wide issues.

Bradley's hiring comes four months after longtime CEO Doc Eldridge left to accept a position with Twin Lakes Recovery Center. Retired Georgia Power executive Lenn Chandler has been serving as interim CEO while a nationwide search was conducted.

Bradley will be moving to Athens next month and will start work Aug. 1.