By Kathy Kurtz Ferrari
Staff Writer
11/30/10
Somewhere in his busy schedule, Christopher Petrik has found a little spare time.

The Milton resident and business owner is a financial planner with Ameriprise Financial, and he’s also an active father of four.

But he has just begun a stint as president of the Milton Chamber of Commerce, joining other business leaders in town to improve the climate for business.

“Originally why I got involved was to get more involved in the business community,” said Petrik. “What I noticed was the Chamber could make some improvements on reaching out to other business owners in the Milton area. Sort of to take care of our own, so to speak.”

The volunteer position with the Chamber is just one more role he plays on his list of activities, which also includes coaching his children in Milton Town Soccer, St. Agatha basketball, Milton National Little League Baseball, and being a den leader for the St. Agatha Pack 5 Cub Scouts.

“I may as well just keep at it, year round,” he laughed.

He also is active with the Norfolk-Plymouth Business and Estate Planning Council, and doing military pro-bono work for the Financial Planning Association.

Petrik’s Ameriprise office, located at 500 Granite Ave., has been in Milton for three years. He wanted to join the Chamber to network and share ideas with fellow businesses and residents, all with the hope of improving the town.

“We’ve got a lot of brainpower here in Milton that I think can just help our community in general,” he said.

As president of the Chamber, he hopes to expand membership and draw business leaders together to improve the town.

The Chamber holds monthly meetings, usually at Abby Park, thanks to Chamber member Vance Welch. Currently, the Chamber is tackling the issue of parking problems in East Milton Square, which is just coming to a head. Many meetings with town officials have been held over the past several months.

“The Chamber in general wants to see more access, more parking, make the whole East Milton Square, as well as the Lower Mills area, more friendly for people to come and do business,” said Petrik.

He also wants to see more cohesiveness with businesses on the west side of town. Expanding membership and increasing community activity for the Chamber are goals of his presidency. He also would like the Chamber to work with the Planning Board, to see the expansion of business in town.

“That’s the hope, to be more involved as a cohesive group and make ourselves heard,” he said.

Petrik grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and graduated from Amherst College with a degree in economics in 1991. He and his wife Anne Marie, who grew up in Quincy, have lived in Milton for about eight years. Their children, Georgia, 11, Christopher, 9, and twins Billy and Timmy, 7, all attend Glover School.

Heading the Chamber is one more way to invest in the community, he feels.

The Chamber is active, holding events such a recent Halloween party, which was also a membership drive. The group will hold a fund-raising event in the spring, with money raised going toward community improvements. Past efforts have provided items such as trash barrels on Adams Street.

“We want to reinvest whatever we do back into the community,” said Petrik.

One of the events the Chamber sponsors, in conjunction with the town, Al Thomas and the Kiwanis Club, is the annual tree lighting in East Milton Square, which will be held Sunday, Nov. 28.

“It’s just nice, as a Milton resident, to be more involved, to see more people, meet more people. We have a great community,” he said