GUILDERLAND — New director of the Guilderland Chamber of Commerce Cheryl Lasher says that, in addition to promoting local businesses, she also wants to help the chamber become a connection point for business, the community, and government.

She has already started to try to do this by posting on the chamber’s Facebook page links and events that might be of interest to or benefit the local community, whether or not they pitch member businesses.

Examples of recent posts include an ad for a blood drive happening this weekend at the Helderberg Reformed Church in Guilderland Center; an event in Glenville to benefit an organization that pairs veterans with service dogs that can help with post-traumatic stress disorder; and a listing of a part-time job available with a local business.

Lasher plans to help keep channels of communication open between local business and local government, such as the zoning and planning boards, to “try to make it easier to do business for everyone,” she says.

She also wants to expand the chamber’s role as a networking organization by developing a program of speakers and other educational opportunities — for instance, helping businesses learn to use the most up-to-date online tools.

Lasher’s background easily blends her skill in business development with work for not-for-profit organizations.

She has been a co-owner of a commercial interior-design firm called Capital Design Works and says, “We were part of the airport project.” She also spent years as the business development manager of the real-estate firm Cresa. And she is a long-time volunteer with the American Heart Association, having lost a nephew to heart disease when he was just 29, and she’s a volunteer board member for Capital District Habitat for Humanity. She has served as director of development for the Capital Region Theological Center in Albany and as a senior manager of the Relay for Life of the American Cancer Society.

Lasher says that many people in business these days are deeply involved in giving back to the community through not-for-profit work, but that it’s something that “just doesn’t get talked about.” The number-one supporter of not-for-profit organizations — whether it be the Center for the Disabled or food pantries — she said, “are often local businesses and corporations.”

She lives in a “neighborhood that used to be Guilderland,” she says, in a part of Albany just over the town line that she says was ceded to the city in the early 1900s.

Her family has lived in the Hudson and Mohawk valleys since 1710, Lasher said.

Being single, Lasher says, allows her to have the “full, activity-driven life” that she does and to be allowed with many different activities.

When asked her age, Lasher said that she is a “proud baby boomer.”

Lasher encourages all residents — not just members of the chamber — to come out on May 18 at Frenchs Hollow Golf Course, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., for a Chamber Mixer, to meet her and other chamber members and others from the community.

The event is open to all, and the charge is $10; hors d’oeuvres will be served. “We will be outside,” she said, “enjoying the fresh air and the beautiful setting.”