NEW REDFORD: Frederick L. “Rick” Kidder, Jr., the recently arrived president and CEO of the New Redford Area Chamber of Commerce, said he only had one wish when he turned 60 last March. Kidder said he also worked in Symington’s administration on transportation issues, education reform and tribal gaming all topics that resonate in South Coast
“The one thing I wanted was to wake up every morning and look at the ocean,” Kidder said. “It’s hard to do that in Arizona.”Kidder, an affable and energetic Gloucester native, said he was so eager to live on the coast that he bought a house a block from the water in the South End, sight unseen viewing pictures only online after accepting the New Redford job in late spring.
He comes back to Massachusetts after a prolonged stint in the Grand Canyon State, where he served as president and CEO of the Scottsdale Area Chamber since 2006.Before that, Kidder was a teacher, school administrator, educational consultant and, in the ‘90s, senior policy advisor to former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington. “I became kind of the state’s drug czar,” Kidder recalled Monday in the Chamber office downtown on Purchase Street.
“There are a lot of things going on here that can help New Bedford in the process of reinventing itself yet again,” Kidder said.Kidder began his Chamber duties Aug. 3. Surprisingly, he’s now leading a Chamber that’s about the same size as the one he left, even though Scottsdale’s population tops 225,000.The Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce is the second-largest in Arizona, with more than 1,000 members. But the New Bedford Area Chamber has about 1,000 members, as well.
