John McDonagh
President/CEO, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce
also
Associate Publisher/Owner, Vancouver Business Journal
Having recently completed 7 years as the President/CEO of the Greater Vancouver Chamber (GVC), McDonagh is quickly becoming one of the longer serving executives at Chambers of Commerce across the state. While at the GVC he has overseen the move to new offices, a corporate rebranding effort and a re-tooling of the Chamber programming. The Greater Vancouver Chamber is the largest business association in SW Washington with nearly 900 active members.
In October of 2004 John and his brother Steve McDonagh bought the Vancouver Business Journal with a small group of investors after nearly 30 years in newspaper advertising and marketing. McDonagh’s career in newspaper began at The Columbian, Vancouver’s daily newspaper where he had roles with increasing responsibility over 26 years leaving as the VP Of Marketing and Sales. McDonagh then joined the startup management team of The Portland Tribune, a twice weekly local newspaper in Portland, OR before leaving to acquire the Vancouver Business Journal.
John has been active in local community affairs with leadership roles in a number of organizations including the Clark County Fair Association, the Greater Clark County and Vancouver Rotary Clubs, Columbia River Economic Development Council (CREDC), Leadership Clark County, the Association of Washington Business Institute Board and is the past Chair of both the Board of Directors for Share Vancouver, a local nonprofit addressing hunger and homelessness in Clark County and the Vancouver Civil Service Commission. John also served as a member of the Professional Advisory Board of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communications at Washington State University, Pullman.
John is a graduate of Washington State University Pullman. He and his wife Anne have three grown daughters and have lived in Vancouver since 1975.