Janet Cook Named Palm Springs Chamber CEO

Public Record, The, Aug 24, 2004

Janet Cook assumed the position of chief executive officer for the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 18. She fills the vacancy left by the recent resignation of David Aaker. Cook previously served as assistant vice president/branch manager of PFF Bank and Trust in La Quinta, which she helped open in February 2001.

Prior to joining PFF in August 1997, Cook served as branch manager of Eldorado Bank in Palm Desert and Indio. Before that, she worked in the same capacity for First Interstate Bank in Indio. She began her banking career at Bank of America and has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services 'industry, where she completed numerous bank-related courses in management, sales and lending.

Cook has been involved in other Coachella Valley chambers of commerce. She served two years on the La Quinta Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and also served on that chamber's Events and Mayor's Cup Golf Challenge committees. She recently was a board member of the Indio Chamber of Commerce, where she sat on the Western Night and Golf Tournament committees and chaired the annual business awards dinner. Additionally, she chaired BizNet 2004, a joint business symposium and showcase for the La Quinta and Indio chambers.

Cook is a director for Desert Community Foundation, where she chairs the Scholarship Committee and serves on the Executive Committee. She also has served on the boards of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, chairing the Investor Relations Committee, and Leadership Coachella Valley. She was first vice president of the Coachella Valley Chapter of California Women for Agriculture, where she served three terms as chair of the Scholarship Committee.

In 1998, Cook received the Palm Desert Athena Award and in 1999 was named by the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce as Ambassador of the Year. The Indio Chamber of Commerce has awarded her the Merritt Wiseman Ambassador Award and the 2003 P.J. Gillespie Volunteer of the Year Award.

A resident of the Coachella Valley for more than 30 Years, Cook lives in Palm Springs.