Meet Our Officers & Board Members
Laura D’Amico
Chamber President
Laura is a life long resident of the City of Revere and has been very active within the community. She has been the president of the Revere Chamber of Commerce since 2010. Prior to that she had been the president of the Revere Rotary, past BOD of the Revere Chamber of Commerce & Santa fund as well as a member of the Revere Community Development.
She is currently the Manager of Century 21 Northshore located on Pleasant Street in Revere and holds an Associates Degree in Marketing, she is a Certified Pre-Liscense Instructor CRB, CRS, RMM, CBR, ITI, PRS Design and Mature Moves Certified.
She is also affiliated as a BOD on the Womens Council of Realtors, Member NAR, MAR, Professional Ethics & Standards Committee, past Board of Director for the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and the Past Board of Director for the Mass. Assoc. of Realtors.
Laura prides herself in servicing her customers and clients with the utmost professionalism.
Bob Upton, First Vice President
Bob is active in many local non-profit organizations within the City of Revere to include BOD positions with the Revere Chamber of Commerce, and the Rumney Marsh Burial Ground Renovation Committee. Bob is a member of the Advisory Board of Revere Beach Partnership and a member of the Revere Society
for Cultural and Historic Preservation.
A passionate Revere Beach enthusiast Bob is the founder and developer of the popular local history website RevereBeach.com. As an avocation he conducts multimedia slide show presentations throughout the Greater Boston area to preserve and promote the rich history of Revere and Revere Beach.
Currently Bob serves as a DoD Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program Specialist. The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program is a DoD-wide effort to promote the well-being of National Guard and Reserve component members and their families affected by active duty deployments. The YRRP works by
connecting service-members and their families with resources throughout the deployment cycle and upon their return home in finding jobs, veterans benefits, housings etc. during reintegration to the civilian community. As a veteran himself Bob is retired at the rank of MSG from the Massachusetts Army National Guard with 28 years service and experience.
Bob is committed to improving the quality of the business environment within the City of Revere by working and serving with our Chamber members our officers and community leaders.
Board of Directors
Sophear Chau, GM, Kelly’s Roast Beef
Sophear is the General Manager at Kelly’s Roast Beef and has worked there for the past 15 years. He is also a graduate of Revere High School and lived in Revere for 16 years before residing in Lynn. Sophear enjoys playing sports and servicing the Revere Community by participating as a member of the Board of Directors here at the Revere Chamber of Commerce and servicing customers at Kelly’s Roast Beef.
Katrina D’Argenis, GM,Comfort Inn & Suites
Katrina is the General Manager for the Saunders Hotel Group since August 2006. She is a graduate from Worchester State College with a Bacholors degree in Business Mgmt. She is the past president of the East Boston/Revere Rotary Club 2009-2010 and past Director of the board for the Revere Travel and Tourism council from 2008-2009.
Edward C. Deveau, Principal Partner, Turning Point Solutions, Inc.
Ed is a Principal Partner with Turning Point Solutions, Inc. He has 40+ years of experience in Data Processing and Project Management and has been Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning professional for 24 years developing an testing Business Continuity plans and for IT Disaster Recovery plans for organizations in the financial services, higher education, manufacturing, insurance and health care industries. He is the past president NEDRIX, and has qualified to be a candidate for the Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP) certification, the highest level of certification attainable in the industry. Ed is currently developing a Business Continuity Planning product to address the needs of small to mid-sized businesses.
Tom Hankard, St. Jeans Credit Union
Thomas Hankard is the Branch Manager and Lending Officer for St. Jean’s Credit Union’s Revere Branch. Tom is very excited to be Treasurer of the Revere Chamber of Commerce and has eight years of banking and finance experience. Prior to joining St. Jean’s, Tom was with Salem Five Bank, there he was a member of the Salem Five “Million Dollar Club;” awarded Banker of the Year three years; and won Branch of the Year for Sales and Service Excellence twice. At St. Jean’s, Tom is focused on business development, community onboarding, and member outreach in the greater Revere area.
Tom has been a very active member of the Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce serving on multiple committees. Currently, Tom is a Rotarian at the East Boston-Revere Rotary Club, Executive Committee Member of the Peabody Education Foundation, and Board of Trustees Education Subcommittee Member at Bishop Fenwick High School. He is a Medford native, a very active member of the Malden Catholic High School Alumni Association and MC Alumni Steering Committee, and is a graduate of Merrimack College, magna cum laude.
Darrell Smith, Director of Sales Comfort Inn & Suites
Darrell has been working at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Revere since March of 2011. He has been a board member here at the Revere Chamber of Commerce since April of 2011. He is a graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2006 with a degree in Hospitality Tourism Mgmt. Darrell currently lives in North Weymouth.
John J. Verrengia, P.P.
John is a self employed CPA–(385 Broadway) and city assessor. He has been on the Board of Directors here at the Revere Chamber since 1989 as well as the past Treasurer from 1989—1996, Second Vice President 1993,1994, 1st Vice President from 1995, 1996 In 1997 John became the President of the Chamber until 2000. He is the Immediate Past President 2001 and has been on the Board of Directors from 2002-2005. He once again became President in 2006 until 2007 and has been on the Board of Directors since then to present day.
As president, he held four business expo’s from 1997-2000 (attendence over 1,500 each year.-Wonderland Ball room 1997,1998 and Topsider Room at Suffolk Downs-1999 and 2000.) Instituted the Business Breakfast in 1998 and held four officer installations-1997-2000. He also instituted the monthly newsletter, annual business directory, state delegation forum-1998-2000, monthly local cable show and the first chamber web page in 1997 (piggy back of Revere Beach.com-set up by Bob Upton) and later own Web page 1999-set up by Jack Cipullo). Increased membership to over 200 members (216 in 2000) and held five successful Golf Tournaments-1997-2000 and 2006. John founded and held Business Mentor day-(Job Shadow day) in 1994 to present with Revere Interact Club.
Past President of the Revere Rotary Club-1993-1994, Paul Harris Fellow-Founder of Revere High Interact Club 1993-present.
If that isn’t enough, John has taught CCD since 1975 and is married and parent to a 16 year old son.
Steve Williams, Owner, Rent-A-Tool Inc.
Steve Williams graduated from Swampscott High School, Class of 1972. He then graduated Northeastern University class of 1977. He has worked in the rental industry since the late 60′s at the time Rent-A-Tool moved from Revere Street to its current location at 777 North Shore Road. Steve learned the business from his Uncle Mel Williams who was the founder of Rent-A-Tool in 1954.
In 1999 after the sudden death of Mel Williams, Steve became the president managing the company with his partner Ed Gustat. In 2005 he purchased Ed’s shares of the company at his retirement. Steve has operated the company in the tradition of Mel ever since. Rent-A-Tool is a full service, single location, privately owned company representing the city of Revere for 57 years.
Steve enjoys spending time with his family, playing basketball, watching the Sox, Pats, B’s and C’s, and relaxing on the beach.
