Staff of the Raleigh Chamber: Eric Darnell

​The Raleigh Chamber is a bustling hub of activity, with events and resources designed to support and promote the Triangle business community. But have you ever wondered who makes all of this happen? In this blog series, we are excited to introduce you to more hardworking staff members behind the scenes at the Raleigh Chamber. 

Get to Know Our Vice President of Information Technology: Eric Darnell

​“Every year there are new challenges and new projects to implement that give our staff members the greater capacity to focus on our organization's mission of driving this community forward.” This statement from Eric Darnell details one of the reasons why he has chosen to stay at the Chamber for almost two decades. Since 2006, Eric has been working in the Raleigh Chamber’s technology department and he has been the Vice President of Information Technology since 2017.
Throughout the years, Eric has seen amazing technological changes that have enabled the Chamber to better serve the business community. One of these changes is the transition from premise servers to cloud servers, which was essential to giving staff members the ability to work remotely during the pandemic. Eric has also seen a change in himself. He explained that the Chamber has been the perfect place for him to improve his technical and leadership skills. 

​One of the ways the Chamber has helped Eric improve his leadership is through Leadership Raleigh. As a member of Leadership Raleigh Class 24 in 2008, Eric learned specific leadership skills while collaborating with his team that have been essential in his current staff position.
“The impact our group made with our team project, and the friends I made along the way were some of the reasons I loved the program,” says Eric. “If your organization has not experienced Leadership Raleigh, you don’t know what you are missing. You need to experience it for yourself.” 

As the Vice President of Information Technology, Eric oversees all the technological needs of the Raleigh Chamber. This includes researching or installing new solutions, implementing security upgrades, helping staff members with their technological needs, managing servers, and maintaining building security. Eric performs an extensive list of important daily tasks, but he also works on many large-scale projects including the Chamber’s MC Trade system, an all-in-one membership management software used by chambers, associations, and organization-based memberships around the globe.
When discussing the future of MC Trade at the Raleigh Chamber, Eric is excited for the future. “In March 2024 we’ll see our entire MC Trade system go from a desktop/web hybrid interface to web only. This will bring lots of challenges this year but will allow us to have better web/registration and member experiences for our members and attendees.” In the future, Eric is looking forward to continuing to improve technology at the Raleigh Chamber and working at a place where he “wakes up every day excited to go to work and be part of a team that shares this same tremendous passion to improve our region.” Want to help Eric and his team? Update your Chamber profile today!