Illinois native named as new chamber chief
By COBY LaRUEStaff
The Alleghany County Chamber of Commerce has a new executive director in Leanne Murray, who started work here on Aug. 22.
Murray came here by way of Asheville, but is a native of Peoria, Ill.
"I have lived in North Carolina since 1995," Murray said. She moved to Charlotte after a brief stay in Texas and later relocated to Asheville, where she lived for about a year and a half.
"I love the mountains," she said. "I tried to relocate to Alleghany when I left Charlotte, but I couldn't find a job in Sparta at that time."
As for her reasons for moving to this state, she said she has a good friend who moved to Charlotte from her home area and she had been visiting for some time prior to moving. She first visited the mountains of North Carolina in 1992 and made her first visit to Sparta on vacation about two years ago.
"I just fell in love with the town," she said. "One of the reasons I'm here is because I wanted to move to a smaller town."
Leanne Murray, selected by the chamber board as the new executive
director, sits behind her new desk at the chamber office. Murray moved
to Sparta from Asheville to accept the position.