A career educator will take the reins of the Vicksburg Warren County Chamber of Commerce this summer.

Jane Lauderdale Flowers, director of Hinds Community College’s work-based learning program, was the choice of the chamber’s board of directors to lead the organization, board president Don Brown said. Members of the chamber were told of the March 10 decision late last week.

Flowers retires at the end of the current semester and will start at the chamber June 2. She’ll enter the job after 30 years in education, a resume that includes being a part-time instructor, heading up developmental studies, and serving on the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges.

“My background in education should be a help,” Flowers said Thursday of her education background. “I think it’s my strength.”

Flowers, a fourth-generation Warren County resident and the sister of longtime county supervisor Bill Lauderdale, is a past member of the chamber’s board of directors and frequent volunteer for the chamber’s activities and events. For 13 years, she was also on the committee that organizes job fairs with the governor’s office. She’s also a past chair of the Warren County Economic Development Foundation board.

In a statement, Brown touted Flowers’ extensive experience working with business and industry in placing students on the job.”

Flowers succeeds Christi Kilroy, who left the position Jan. 1 after 71⁄2 years to take a job with the Mississippi Economic Council.

The chamber was established in 1894 and claims more than 400 companies in its membership, according to its website.