Gerlock to leave Frederick County chamber for federal job

Clara Niel, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·3 min read

Jennifer Gerlock is leaving the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce this month after accepting a role with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“It was a bittersweet decision,” she said in an interview on Tuesday.

Gerlock is the vice president of marketing and communications at the Chamber, as well as executive director of Leadership Frederick County, a Chamber program.

Her last day is May 17, a news release from the Chamber said.

Gerlock started at the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce in May 2018 as the marketing and communications manager, she said.

When Rick Weldon became the Chamber’s president and CEO later in 2018, she was promoted to her current position.

“I’ve known Jennifer for many years before we started working together,” Weldon said in the news release. “As I reflect back on the last several years, I’m in awe of what we’ve been able to accomplish, and Jennifer’s incredible contributions to our collective success.”

Throughout her six years at the Chamber, Gerlock worked on a complete rebrand of the organization, one of the efforts she’s most proud of.

The rebrand was announced in 2019, she said. She and a team have been chipping away at it ever since. The most recent piece, which will be unveiled soon, is the renovation of the first floor of the Chamber of Commerce building on North Market Street.

Gerlock also revived S.H.E. (Strength, Heart and Equality) Week, the Chamber-organized celebration to uplift women-owned businesses and connect their owners to resources. She brought back the Women in Business committee, which Gerlock said was dormant for a time.

“I had this incredible committee of overachieving females, so what started as one event quickly became four. They sold out the entire week, and that’s where we’re like, ‘Wait, we have something here,’” she said.

A lot of the work she accomplished at the Chamber couldn’t have been done alone, she said.

Since S.H.E. Week’s launch in 2019, it has won a national Best in Show award, has been used as inspiration for similar events in other states and has been growing in Frederick County each year, Gerlock said.

She is proud of running Leadership Frederick County during part of her time at the Chamber. The 10-month program takes leaders in the community through training, classes and experiences to become better leaders.

Gerlock said Weldon approached her to take on the role, she said.

“I wasn’t quite sure I could do it justice. But I’m finishing my third class. They graduate on Thursday,” she said.

Though Gerlock is leaving the Chamber, she plans to still be involved in the community. She will be able to stay in Frederick with the new job.

Her decision to leave was for more personal reasons, she said, like getting to spend more time with her family and a work-life balance. It was a hard decision to make, she said, since she loves the important work the Chamber does.

And with more of that balance, she said, she believes she can volunteer more in the community.

“It all came about in a beautiful way where I could still be involved, don’t have to move anywhere because it’s a hybrid, and still volunteer in Frederick. I wouldn’t have taken it unless I could have stayed involved,” she said.