Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce & Visit Myrtle Beach gets a new CEO. Here’s who it is
.jpg "The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce named its new permanent CEO Friday, March 2025. The chamber previously had a interim executive in charge of the agency after former CEO Karen Riordan resigned in June 2024.")
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau has a new CEO and president.
The chamber and CVB announced Matthew Pivarnik is stepping into the role via a press release. Pivarnik previously worked in Kansas as the CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership, overseeing the area’s chamber and other organizations.
During his tenure, the Topeka area saw improved economic growth. The firm Area Development listed Topeka’s metropolitan statistical area as the 11th overall in its 2024 ranking, examining cities in the United States. Myrtle Beach’s metropolitan statistical area ranked 52nd in Area Development’s list.
In an interview with The Sun News, Pivarnik said he was excited to get started at the chamber and CVB and help improve the community and other stakeholders in the area.
“I’m coming to Myrtle Beach to join a huge team, a team of private sector leaders, elected leaders, citizens, and just really try to understand all of the metrics,” Pivarnik said. “I believe there are opportunities for job creation, economic development, prosperity creation, and I just look forward to getting there and figuring out what are our opportunities in the future.”
He added he’s been a fan of the area for quite some time and visited for golf trips and other business reasons. Pivarnik added he had a short conversation in 2018 about leading the Myrtle Beach chamber and CVB when the job opened at the time. Pivarnik said he will look to balance the area’s growth of new residents and the tourism economies.
“I don’t want to have preconceived notions of what needs to be done, until I can actually get there and breathe it and live it and hear from more people and understand the metrics that are associated with it,” Pivarnik added.
Founded in 1938 and 1979, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB help the area’s local business community and promote the Grand Strand’s reputation as a vacation destination.
Pivarnik’s hiring comes as the chamber and CVB sought to find a new executive after the previous CEO and president resigned in 2024, and the two organizations had an interim leader in recent months.
In September 2024, the chamber launched a search committee to find a permanent CEO and president for both organizations. The committee’s 10 members included Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune, outgoing CCU President Michael Benson, Horry County Council Chairmen Johnny Gardner and other business executives in the area.
In July 2024, the chamber and CVB tapped former Myrtle Beach Golf Course Owners Association Executive Director Tracy Conner as interim president and CEO. According to the press release, Conner will remain CEO and president until May 2025, when Pivarnik will take on the role.
Before taking the interim role at the chamber, Conner worked in the Grand Strand golf industry for decades and previously worked for the Grand Strand-base Golf Tourism Solutions. Conner’s wife, Debbie, is also a City of Myrtle Beach council member and professor at Coastal Carolina University.
Conner confirmed to The Sun News that he would help with the transition process and directed further requests for comment to a chamber and CVB spokesperson.
Conner replaced former CEO Karen Riordan, who stepped down in June 2024 to seek new opportunities and spend time with her family.
She started at the chamber and CVB in 2018, and one of her primary initiatives was bringing a PGA Tour golf tournament to the Grand Strand. Riordan’s efforts helped lead to the creation of the Myrtle Beach Classic, a dual-field golf tournament with golfers not eligible for a more high-profile PGA Signature event taking place at the same time.
The chamber co-sponsored the Myrtle Beach Classic, which took place in May 2024, two months before Riordan resigned. In keeping with the golf theme,
Ambitions for the Myrtle Beach Classic have grown in recent times. The head of the 2025 Myrtle Beach Classic’s co-sponsor, ONEflight, expressed a desire for grander plans for the second-year event. On The Green Magazine reported that ONEflight’s CEO said his goal is to make the Myrtle Beach Classic a stand-alone PGA Tour tournament during a February 2025 press conference.
While the Myrtle Beach Classic runs through 2027, a stand-alone event would be a marked departure from the tournament’s initial conception.
The PGA told the chamber that The Classic would be a dual-field event before the inaugural field took to the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in 2024.
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 12:02 PM.
