Meet the GSV Chamber Team
Photo by: Alex Sholes Photography
In 2018, a group of Lemhi County locals and business leaders came together to form The Greater Salmon Valley Chamber of Commerce. It hasn’t been easy building a Chamber of Commerce from the ground up, but we’re proud of how far we’ve come. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the tremendous support of our members and community. Thank you to everyone who’s helped this organization grow!
We often don’t know the faces to the names we frequently hear. Who are the people behind the scenes ensuring that tasks are completed, and helping the organization succeed? Who even is the Greater Salmon Valley Chamber of Commerce anyway? Well, take a look and you’ll find out!
Abi Beer - President
Abi, originally a Minnesota native, spent most of her adult life in Colorado. She graduated from the University of Denver with two bachelor degrees in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Spanish. During college, she obtained a real estate license, and opened up her own brokerage firm in Colorado where she has spent 20 years in the industry. She has just opened her brokerage firm in Idaho, and is looking to continuing her real estate career in Lemhi County! Abi moved to Salmon four years ago, and continues to enjoy the community and meeting new people! Abi will be running for her 2nd term on the Greater Salmon Valley Chamber of Commerce, and currently serves as the President of the board. In her free time she loves to scuba dive, golf, play hockey, and float the Salmon River! She is eager to work alongside her fellow board members to continue providing a collaborative networking approach to business owners and their interaction with our community. She is looking forward to serving the Chamber for another two years!
Sherry Elrod - Vice President
Sherry moved with her husband to Salmon in 2006. She has been a REALTOR® since 2015, specializes in residential, vacant land, and commercial. Prior to becoming a REALTOR®, she was a licensed real estate appraiser specializing in commercial appraisals. Sherry's passion when she is not selling real estate is enjoying the many recreational activities this amazing Lemhi Valley has to offer. She continues to invest many hours as a volunteer in Lemhi Valley with past positions including a vice chair with Salmon Valley Stewardship; She is an Idaho Master Gardener and founding member of the Salmon School Garden Project on this team for the last 6 years and currently secretary; participant in the Local Foods Group; and Founding board member of the Lemhi Valley Community Foundation. Sherry has a BBA from National University and over twenty-five years as an owner/operator and successfully selling small businesses. She loves the Lemhi Valley and is proud to be part of the Mountain West Real Estate team.
Erik Edmiston - Treasurer
I have been coming to Salmon since 2003 when my parents and grandparents retired and settled in Carmen. I would bring my three girls up every 4th of July for our family’s yearly get together. After 22 years in various corporate positions, I retired in 2019 and decided to move from Colorado to Carmen to help with our family property. After retiring, I realized I am not able sit still; and therefore, bought the Salmon River Coffee Shop. It became a passion project to restore this historic building into a new addition to the community. I met Emmy & Austin King in 2021 and knew right away I wanted to work with this amazing and driven couple. We started our business, Salmon River Coffee Shop, in the Salmon River Inn last August. We have plans to move to our original building at 606 Main St. this year. I love this small-town community and would love to be more involved. While I lived in Colorado, I worked directly with multiple Chambers for the company I was with and feel like this much smaller community will be extremely rewarding to work with.
Jessica Santos - Secretary
Hello my name is Jessica Santos, I am a Salmon native, I’ve always had a drive to get involved in the community and am excited I am finally able to do so! I have 3 lovable kiddos and would love the opportunity to help make events that are memorable and fun for not only our youth but all ages. I have a background in event planning from when I lived in Denver and have so many ideas to put out there that would potentially benefit our small business owners as well as the community as a whole. If given the chance I would love to put my out going and friendly personality to good use while serving our small businesses and community!
Esther England - Board Director
Esther has been a real estate agent since 2001. She purchased Mountain West Real Estate in 2010 and moved the office to Main Street. She finds it satisfying to work with people and help them realize their goals. Finding good “matches” for people in their property searches and assisting sellers to “move on” is gratifying. Esther's family moved to the Salmon area in 1972. She married a native of Lemhi County and has been married for over 40 years. They had the pleasure of raising a family in this beautiful valley. Horseback riding, 4-wheeling, hunting and fishing are just some of the few extras she loves to do when she's not working real estate, or volunteering for the Chamber. Esther became involved with the Chamber because she cares about the future of Salmon. She wants to help build stronger businesses to support the inevitable growth of our rural community.
Tona Leiseth - Board Director
Tona Leiseth is a 5th generation Idahoan. Tona graduated from University of Idaho with a BS in Visual Communications. Along the road of life, she has realized she loves being an entrepreneur. She wanted to join the chamber in an effort to help other small businesses find their path to success. When she isn't out in the woods playing with her family, she is working on new recipes for her catering business The Noshery or building crates and seeking out artisans for her Salmon based gift basket business Liv Wild Goods.
Lindsey Ammar - Board Director
My name is Lindsey Ammar, and I am honored to be considered for a position on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce. I am a Salmon High School grad, Valedictorian of the class of 2005! I was born in Idaho Falls and grew up between Salmon and Phoenix, AZ. I am a Registered Nurse and recently received my Master of Science in Nursing Leadership and Education, and I am currently the Director of Surgery at Steele Memorial Medical Center. I have been living full-time back in Salmon since 2018. I am a huge proponent of bringing continuing education back to the valley. The innovation center used to have beginning college courses available to juniors and seniors that wanted to have college credit before they graduated. I am not sure when that program was removed. The RN program at the innovation center (a satellite of the program at CEI) was voted out years ago, which was devastating. There needs to be more continuing education programs available to our graduates that they can access in town. With the current economy, many graduates are not able to move out of their parents’ homes to continue their education, making it so important to have options available here. Lastly, I am in great support of increasing the amount of available athletic programs outside of the school, available year-round for the youth to play. I was a founding coach of the Salmon Fastpitch League and took great pride in teaching the girls my love of the sport. Even though I am no longer involved, I developed a strong bond with many of my players and continue to go support them at other sporting events. The youth need responsible adults that want to watch them succeed and are willing to help them. If I were to get this position, I would use my voice to explain how important continuing education is for the youth of Salmon. I would educate those voters that voted out previously approved programs to help the youth succeed. I would also help develop more academic programs that students may need outside of the classroom. It is within my values as a nurse to help my community, and I feel a position on this Board would allow me to do that. I love living and Salmon and I want our community to be the best it can!
Krystall Logan - Executive Director
Krystall grew up in Idaho but moved to Arizona as a child and was raised mostly by her grandparents who owned their own business. She spent most of high school back in Salmon where she met friends she'd have for life. After finding her passion with animals, she attended Petsmart's Grooming Academy where later in life she would start her own pet grooming business. She has owned Barking Spot grooming for almost 21 years. Krystall has 3 children attending our Salmon schools and 1 in college. She has always been a huge advocate for our local businesses and is very excited to be a bigger part of making our community great.
Message from the GSV Chamber
Are you interested in joining the GSV Chamber team? Great! Please email us, and tell us a little about yourself.