By Leslie Rylke

During the summer of 2014, Tracey Oberholtzer began thinking about going back to work full time.  Her son, Kyle, would be heading off to study engineering at Northeastern University that Fall while daughter Nicole would be starting at the Downingtown STEM Academy.

Kyle also attended STEM as a member of its inaugural graduating class and Oberholtzer was an active parent volunteer.  She was instrumental in creating a golf outing to benefit the STEM Academy Home & School Association’s Scholarship Fund – Fore the Kids.

“It was through my work on the golf outing that I met Marybeth DiVincenzo (Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at the Chester County Economic Development Council),” said Oberholtzer.

She arranged a meeting with DiVincenzo to learn about CCEDC and how it is connected to various businesses across the region and shortly thereafter “as luck would have it, an opportunity to join the CCEDC became available and I came on board in 2014 as the Project Coordinator for Hire One.”

Oberholtzer celebrates her 4-year anniversary with CCEDC this month and her hard work and dedication have earned her a promotion to Events Manager.  Leading up to this point, Tracey’s skills were valued throughout the organization as she moved from working on HireOne to involvement with other CCEDC initiatives – the Manufacturing Alliance of Chester and Delaware Counties (MACC/DC) and Health Care Connect.

Along the way, she was able to tap into her interest for helping area young people by coordinating CCEDC’s youth programs.  Through this work she assumed leadership roles with Girls Exploring Tomorrow’ Technology (GETT) – a full day STEM experience for girls in grades 5-10 – and the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” Student Video Contest for area middle school students.

“Tracey’s approach and organization around the STEM Golf Outing was significant and yielded great results immediately.  It was evident that she would be great addition to our workforce efforts in any capacity, so we were thrilled that she was able to join the team.”

Oberholtzer grew up in Springfield, PA with her younger brother, Anthony Morris.  She went on to earn her BS in Marketing from Saint Joseph’s University.  Her history of working with kids goes back to her first job as a teacher’s assistant one summer at a Montessori school working with preschoolers.

Oberholtzer lived in New Hampshire for a few years before returning to Chester County in 1994.  It was while her kids were in grade school that Oberholtzer became involved with the Mommy’s Light Lives On Fund (now called Family Lives On) which supports the lifelong well-being of children who have lost a parent by helping them to continue cherished family traditions.

Her duties as that organization’s volunteer director and subsequently as program director, provided her with valuable skills that she has applied to her work at CCEDC.

When not working at CCEDC, Oberholtzer enjoys trips to New York City to see a Broadway show and to explore the neighborhoods for great restaurants, traveling to new places and spending time at her family’s beach home enjoying the sun, sand and ocean with family and friends.

As a new empty nester, she also can’t wait for Thanksgiving and winter break when both of her children will be home to visit.