Effervescent, upbeat, relentlessly positive, known to kick up her heels and do a jig at a good groundbreaking or ribbon cutting.

For sure, Nancy Wyatt is all that. But she’s much more than people may suspect.

Because when the work day is done and the chief executive officer of the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce settles into the home between Covington and Maple Valley she shares with her husband, Greg, a nightly transformation happens.

What emerges is Nancy Wyatt, lover of quiet, solitary, silent moments with a good book — “it’s awesome” — nerd supreme, fanatical player of any video game that has to do with dragons and the like.

“Here’s the shocking part; I am not an extrovert, I am a total introvert,” Wyatt confessed. “My extraversion is a learned version.”

Last month, Wyatt announced her pending retirement to the Chamber Board of Directors, effective Dec. 31.

“It’s hard to let go , but I’m really looking forward to what my husband and I are going to be doing,” Wyatt said.

And what might that be?

“The beauty is that my husband retired back in March. I would kiss him goodbye every morning, and I would think, ‘What’s wrong with this picture? How come he gets to sleep in?’ This is more about him starting to make some plans to go traveling, especially to Ireland and to Japan where our daughter, Kelli, is working, and I’m thinking, ‘but I want to go!’ I married him for life, and I’m going to spend the rest of it with him,” Wyatt said.

The couple also have a son, Kyle.

Wyatt came to Auburn from the Covington Chamber on April 3, 2006.

“I wanted to be hired on April Fool’s Day, but that didn’t work,” Wyatt said with a laugh.

It has been a crowded nine years, witness to the transformation of the downtown and the construction of new buildings, but at the same time, barely begun when the economic downturn hit in 2008.

“Gosh, weathering that economic storm, seeing all the changes that are really now coming to fruition in downtown Auburn. I remember when I first got here, seeing Mayor Pete Lewis get in the big digger and start the tearing down of the the old taverns, taking out that whole tavern row. Seeing the One Main building go up, that was incredible. And having our building when we were back on South Division blocked off on three sides when they were redoing the whole Division Street project. I remember saying specifically when we were dedicating South Division: ‘You know, this project may not have been sexy, but it was definitely needed, to get that infrastructure put in.’ And now you see the Trek Building, Merrill Gardens coming in, and now the hospital expansion, it’s just exciting to see that development happen.

‘Turn around and look’

“A lot of changes, good changes, absolutely,” Wyatt added. “Growing the chamber back up in the nine-and-a-half years I have been here. We also implemented a fantastic candidate endorsement process. But my proudest accomplishment? Turn around and look.”

On the wall facing her desk are photos of every graduating class of the Leadership Institute of South Puget Sound since 2001. And look there, the last person in the lower right hand corner of the Class of 2001 — that’s Wyatt. Former Auburn businesswoman and City Council member Lynn Norman launched the Leadership Institute of South Puget Sound from the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce in 1999.

“It’s being able to have an impact on ensuring that the Leadership Institute of South Puget Sound continues and grows every year. I was on the Covington Chamber when I went through there. I totally credit it for teaching me more about regional awareness, honing my leadership skills, and being able get this job here when it opened up,” she said.

Naturally, the Illinois native earned her college degree in — running a chamber of commerce? Ha! With a degree is in biology, her intention was to apply to medical school.

“You never set out in life to become a chamber exec, you fall into it,” Wyatt corrected with a laugh. “And you either fall in love with it, or it chews you up and spits you out. I fell in love with it.”

When Nancy and her husband, an aeronautical engineer, and their young family arrived in Washington in 1984, she started working at an office supply store in downtown Kent. Later, she was a volunteer leader for the same office supply store in Maple Valley and began work with the Black Diamond Chamber as treasurer. From there, she moved up to chair its board of directors.

At the same time, she was doing desktop publishing from home.

The Covington Chamber hired her in October of 1999.

“I’m a total graphic design geek, I love that stuff. Covington hired me to do its newsletter, Three months later they fired their executive director and asked me to apply. I thought, ‘I have been a volunteer, and I know what I would love to see in a chamber,” she said.

“I’m sad to be leaving the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, and I will tear up. But having invested so much time and energy into this great organization and working with such incredible people, whether it’s the volunteers that are serving on your board or the staff that are here, even the staff of the past, everybody has been absolutely fabulous,” Wyatt said.