Sainato-Meneely named Chamber Secretary

Dina Sainato-Meneely is the new Secretary for the Malta Chamber of Commerce but she is anything but new to the field of business.

Sainato-Meneely moved to Malta five years ago with her husband Scott and now nine year old son Ryan from Pittsburgh. The family has since then added one year old Maria to their family.

“While I was there (in Pittsburgh), I did a lot of work with non profits,” Sainato-Meneely said.

“I was on the Board of directors for a Boys and Girls Club Chapter and two United Way Chapters.”

She attended a Chamber of Commerce leadership program during her time in the Pittsburgh area as well.

“When I saw this job open up, it seemed like a good fit and something that I would be really interested in,” Sainato-Meneely said.

In joining the Chamber, Sainato-Meneely hopes to help Malta thrive for years to come.

“I think it’s a way for me to give back to the community and make sure that as my kids get older, Malta is still thriving and successful,” Sainato-Meneely said.

As Secretary of the Chamber, she will report to all nine Chamber members, who are volunteers.

According to Sainato-Meneely, the Chamber does a few things, one of which is to support the community through various programs such as the Putt Crawl and Crazy Days.

“We have two other arms,” Sainato-Meneely said. “We do work that supports our members and that’s providing resources and information that help the local businesses grow and continue to be successful.”

Some of those tools can come from Training events and seminars to advertising.

The Chamber also encourages new business.

“We can direct them to what’s available in Phillips County and direct them to the different resources that may be available to them,” Sainato-Meneely said.

Sainato-Meneely is no stranger to small towns, because the town that she moved from is similar in size to Malta.

“It’s about the same size as Malta, but in Pennsylvania towns just aren’t as far apart,” she said. “The next town that was the same size as Malta was just five minutes down the road.”

Sainato-Meneely really appreciates how close the community of Malta is because it is familiar to her.

“Folks were really close-knit and look out for each other,” Sainato-Meneely said. “That’s the same thing that we see in Malta. Folks are just really wanting to help each other.”

In her high school days, Sainato-Meneely was a softball player and was involved in the music program.

Sainato-Meneely attended Penn State and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She earned her Master’s in Industrial Psychology from The University of Akron.

“Industrial Psychology is the study of people at work,” Sainato-Meneely said.

She spent ten years working for a federal contractor training courses in leadership development. Sainato-Meneely has been working as an Independent Consultant for the last year.

“I think those kinds of things really tie into what I can bring into the Chamber,” Sainato-Meneely said.

For more information about the Chamber visit: Maltachamber.org or visit them on Facebook.