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Chamber's Bill Haas To end long run at helm Bill Haas, executive vice president of the Chamber of Medford/Jackson County for nearly 20 years, will step down, according to chamber sources. The move is expected to be formally announced at a press conference Monday. Sources say a committee has been formed to search for a replacement. The 54-year-old Haas has headed the chamber since July 1980. He declined to confirm or deny that he is leaving until Monday. The press conference notice says the chamber will announce a "top leadership change." Several board members reached Friday also declined to confirm that Haas was leaving, saying they as a board had decided to wait until Monday to reveal any details surrounding the leadership change. But other chamber sources confirmed that Haas is indeed leaving the post. In his tenure with the chamber, Haas' work has drawn statewide notice. In 1988, he was named executive of the year by the Oregon Chamber Executives. Before moving to Medford, he spent nine years as executive vice president of Conejo Valley Chamber in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was born and raised in California in a family of ranchers. Rather than follow in the profession of his father and grandfather, Haas went to the University of Southern California, graduating with a degree in business and industrial management. He also served a stint in the U.S. Army before getting his first chamber of commerce job, as business development manager for the chamber in Whittier, Calif. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA