He has served as assistant White House press secretary to President Ronald Reagan, senior vice president of mission programs for National Geographic, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and has held public relations and marketing posts for both Occidental Petroleum Corp. and the Texas Rangers. Now, Dale Petroskey has been named president and CEO of the Dallas Regional Chamber.
He’ll replace James Oberwetter, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Hunt Oil Co. executive, who’s retiring after leading the chamber since 2009.
The announcement was made by the organization’s board chairman, Steve Mansfield, president and CEO of Methodist Health System. Mansfield said Petroskey would focus on helping the chamber achieve its strategic initiatives: driving economic prosperity and improving the quality of life throughout the region.
The new chamber leader was selected after a four-month search. “We had tremendous interest in the role from around the country, and were fortunate to have interviewed some very talented leaders,” Mansfield said. “We were unanimous in our belief that Dale is the right man to lead the Chamber going forward.”
Petroskey and his wife, Ann, both graduates of Michigan State University, have three grown children: Kathleen, an SMU graduate living in Dallas and working for Worldwide Express; Frank, a Tufts University graduate living and working in New York City; and Claire, a College of Charleston graduate living and working in Charleston, SC. He will begin his new job April 1.
“Ann and I experienced first-hand what a welcoming and vibrant community Dallas is, and we are very excited to be coming back,” Petroskey said. “It’s alive with opportunities and a can-do spirit, and you can sense an optimism about the future more than any other place we’ve lived.”