“Take more risks. If there is
something you want to do,
go for it. Fail a ton — you’ll
learn a lot. Failure helps
you build character.”
Chris Kay is a busy guy. He’s a marketing
executive, owner of an imported-foods business
and, as of July 1, president of the Greater
Stockton Chamber of Commerce.
Kay, 36, who leads marketing and business
development for Siegfried Engineering, an engineering
firm in Stockton, has been a chamber
board member since 2014, helping advocate for
the Stockton business community. When the
coronavirus pandemic hit, the chamber created
a page on its website dedicated to information
for its members, including links to webcasts and
podcasts, plus guidance and resources for reopening
businesses in a safe and responsible way.
“The organization actively becomes a voice for
our business community,” Kay says. “Our chamber
team is providing small business resources in
order to be safe and clean to the public.”
Kay, who was born in Stockton and earned
his bachelor’s degree in communication from
the University of the Pacific in 2010, has also
worked as the marketing manager for the Downtown
Stockton Alliance, the director of sales
and marketing for SMG Stockton (which then
managed five city-owned venues, including the
Stockton Arena), and manager of marketing and
outreach for the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission
before joining Siegfried last year.
Kay, along with his wife, Kristen Anema Kay,
also are giving back to the community through
their family business, Carter Imports, which
imports extra virgin olive oil and honey. Kay says
the business has donated 300 bottles of olive
oil to food banks in Stockton, assisting more
than 150 families during the pandemic. He also
donated $1 of every bottle of olive oil sold in May
to St. Mary’s Dining Room, a nonprofit serving
people who are dealing with poverty, homelessness
and food insecurity by providing meals and
medical, dental and mental health services.
Kay, who spent a year living in Greece with
his family as a child, started Carter Imports last
year after Kay, his wife and daughter Kenley, 4,
(they also have a 9-month-old son) had taken
several trips to Greece, his parents’ home
country, and Italy. “It’s the most rewarding thing
I’ve done,” Kay says of Carter Imports, which he
and his wife named to honor a pregnancy loss in
August 2017. “I turned nothing into something.
My focus at this time is working with St. Mary’s
Dining Room on a donation drive to help those
families in need.”
Before the pandemic, Kay found ways to
participate in the business community by
serving as a board member of the San Joaquin
County Economic Development Association
since 2013, and he served from 2012 to 2018 as a
board member for Leadership Stockton Alumni
Association.
“Stockton is full of good hardworking
people,” Kays says. “It’s a place I’m proud to
call home.”
BY BEN SANCHEZ
July 2020 | comstocksmag.com 51