Silver Valley EDC hires second employee

WALLACE – The Silver Valley Economic Development Corp. has hired a second employee to assist Executive Director Vince Rinaldi, who begins a two-year term this week as a Shoshone County commissioner.

Chuck Wardwell will oversee day-to-day operations at the EDC, and Rinaldi will remain with the organization as the part-time executive director.

Wardwell, 50, is a former Hewlett-Packard employee. He said the EDC impressed him as a spunky organization. Its was one of the first Web sites Wardwell looked up four years ago when he and his wife were considering moving to the area from Boise.

The nonprofit EDC’s mission is to diversify the economy by recruiting new companies to the valley and helping existing firms grow. State and local funding support the EDC’s $70,000 annual budget.

“He (Wardwell) is passionate about seeing the valley grow and improve,” Rinaldi said.

Wardwell’s wife, Denise, owns a State Farm Insurance office in Kellogg. After the couple moved to the valley, Wardwell continued to work for H-P from a home office for several years, focusing on the customer service portion of H-P’s Web site. Later, he joined his wife in the insurance business.

Before he was hired at the EDC, Wardwell helped Rinaldi retool the EDC’s Web site, enlisting a class at Kellogg High School to help with the design.

Wardwell has a degree in quantitative analysis from Boise State University.