Chad Wester, co-owner of Boll Weevil Soap Co. in Enterprise, has been elected to the Alabama Retail Association’s board of directors. His two-year term begins Jan. 1, 2023.
Since 2017, Wester and his wife Kendra have owned the natural soap and body products company founded in 1997. Both have been operating it full time since 2019 when Wester left the wireless industry to devote his full attention to the growing family business. In 2019, the Westers also moved Boll Weevil Soap to Main Street in downtown Enterprise and bolstered its online presence.
Wester is the founding chair of Enterprise Main Street, on the executive board of Downtown Enterprise Business Association (served as president in 2021) and has served as an Enterprise Chamber of Commerce chamber director.
The Westers also sponsor the Weevil Cam, a 24-hour live broadcast of activity near Enterprise’s Boll Weevil Monument, the world’s only statue honoring an insect.
The couple earned the title of Gold Alabama Retailers of the Year in the Annual Sales Less Than $1 Million category earlier this year.
The Boll Weevil Soap Company has been an Alabama Retail Association member since 2018.
“The Alabama Retail Association allows me to focus on my business, rather than worry about what’s happening in Montgomery and Washington,” Wester said. “The association is always working to better the position of its members.”
Wester worked for 20 years in the wireless industry before becoming an entrepreneur. His employers included Verizon, Wireless Advantage Communications, Cox Communications, AT&T Mobility and Alltel Wireless.
Wester graduated in 1997 from The University of Alabama, where he majored in history and minored in English. During his four years at UA, he played the role of Big AL, the university’s mascot.
The Westers have two adult children.
The Alabama Retail Association represents retailers, the largest private employer in the state of Alabama, before the Alabama Legislature and the U.S. Congress. Our 4,300 independent merchant and national company members touch almost every aspect of daily living. Whether voicing the retail view when public policy is made, educating members about issues that impact them, negotiating rates for benefits and services or communicating the retail story, the Alabama Retail Association and its members are better together.
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