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The Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce has named Jim Roche its interim president while the organization searches for a permanent leader.
Roche recently retired as president of the Maine Bankers Association, a position he had held since 2021. He previously spent nearly 17 years as president of the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire, the state’s chamber of commerce.
Roche also led a regional chamber of commerce in upstate New York and worked in economic development, communications, marketing and public policy in Minnesota.
A Minneapolis native, Roche attended the University of Minnesota Duluth for two years before completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He lived in Duluth for seven years after college and has owned a condominium in the city for the past decade.
Roche also has family ties to Duluth. His sister, brother-in-law and four of their six adult children live on Park Point.
The chamber said Roche will work with its board and staff to guide the organization until a permanent president is selected.
The Duluth Area Chamber represents hundreds of businesses across northeastern Minnesota. Its work includes business advocacy, economic development and community engagement.
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PREP SPORTS PLAYERS TO WATCH
A new high school sports program does not inherit tradition. Someone has to create it. For the Stella Maris Academy girls tennis team, Della Seyfer is helping do exactly that.
Seyfer enters her senior season as the Sentinels’ top player and the unquestioned anchor of a young program that is beginning to establish itself. She will play No. 1 singles, where she will face the best player on nearly every opposing roster while carrying a leadership responsibility that extends well beyond her own court.
Years from now, when Stella Maris girls tennis has a deeper record book, an established alumni base and traditions passed from one team to the next, future Sentinels should know Seyfer’s name. She was here while the foundation was still being poured, accepting the difficult assignment at the top of the lineup and showing younger players what the program could become.
“Della is our top player and is looking to have a great final year at No. 1 singles,” Stella Maris coach Reier Sjomeling said.
That position comes with very little shelter. No. 1 singles players cannot hide from difficult matchups, and they rarely encounter an easy afternoon. Seyfer will be asked to play skilled, experienced opponents from larger and more established programs, often knowing Stella Maris will need her point to remain competitive in the team match.
It is a substantial burden, but one Seyfer accepts willingly and appears to thrive under. She posted a 9-9 varsity record as a junior and produced one of her strongest performances in a 5-2 team loss to Hermantown last September. Seyfer outlasted Sophia Piede 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, giving Stella Maris one of its two victories that afternoon.
That match provided a concise picture of the program’s current stage. Stella Maris had legitimate strength at the top of its singles lineup, but Hermantown’s greater depth carried the Hawks through the lower singles positions and all three doubles matches. Building that depth is one of the Sentinels’ most important assignments this season.
Sjomeling believes there is reason for optimism.
“This is still a newer program with lots of young players, so there is a lot of potential in the future,” he said.
The potential is no longer entirely theoretical. Stella Maris earned five varsity victories last season, a meaningful step for a program still developing its roster, competitive identity and expectations.
“Last year we started to find some varsity success, and we are hoping to keep building on that this year,” Sjomeling said.
Five victories do not make Stella Maris a finished product, but they do establish a starting point. The Sentinels now know they can win varsity matches. Their next challenge is to become more consistent, convert close individual matches and develop enough strength throughout the lineup to contend for the four points required to win a team dual.
Seyfer will be central to that work. Her leadership will be visible in her match results, but its more lasting value may emerge during practices, road trips and difficult afternoons when younger teammates are learning how varsity tennis tests patience and composure. They will watch how she prepares, how she responds after losing a long game and how she carries herself when an opponent begins controlling a match.
The season will test those qualities immediately.
Stella Maris is scheduled to open Friday in a four-team event involving Superior, Minneapolis Roosevelt and Duluth Denfeld. It is an ambitious opening assignment for a young roster, providing multiple matches and different playing styles before the Sentinels have had much time to settle into the season.
A multi-team opening date can reveal a great deal about a developing program. It tests conditioning, lineup depth and a player’s ability to recover emotionally between matches. One difficult result cannot be allowed to affect the next opportunity, particularly when another opponent may be waiting only a short time later.
For Seyfer, the opening event should provide an immediate senior-season measuring stick. She will see top-line competition from programs with different levels of experience and depth. For the younger Sentinels, the day should accelerate the learning process by placing them directly into meaningful varsity competition.
The early schedule continues with opponents including Duluth Marshall, Pierz, Rock Ridge and Pequot Lakes. Stella Maris is also scheduled to visit Hermantown on Sept. 15, giving Seyfer another opportunity against the program she defeated at No. 1 singles last season even as the Hawks won the overall dual.
Two days later, the Sentinels are scheduled to face Mora. By that point, Sjomeling should have a clearer understanding of whether his young lineup is beginning to turn potential into dependable varsity production.
The schedule should not be evaluated only by the Sentinels’ final record. Stella Maris needs victories, but it also needs evidence of growth: more competitive sets, stronger doubles combinations, better responses under pressure and younger players becoming comfortable in varsity roles.
That balance between providing a positive experience and establishing demanding standards is central to Sjomeling’s approach.
“We are excited to continue to build a positive experience for our players, yet challenge them to keep improving,” he said.
Those goals belong together. A positive program is not one that shields athletes from difficult expectations. It is one that gives them the coaching, encouragement and confidence to meet those expectations. Stella Maris can celebrate its progress while being honest about the distance it still must travel.
The program also intends to remain grounded in the school’s Catholic identity.
“We look to incorporate our Catholic faith in all that we do, leading each player closer to Jesus,” Sjomeling said.
For the Sentinels, that mission places sportsmanship, service and responsibility alongside wins and losses. Seyfer’s senior leadership therefore carries another dimension. She is being asked not only to play the most demanding position in the lineup, but also to model the character the program wants its younger players to carry forward.
That may ultimately be her most important contribution.
Another player eventually will occupy Stella Maris’ No. 1 singles position. Others may someday win more matches, advance farther in section competition or help the Sentinels reach heights that remain in the future. If that happens, however, those players will be building upon work done by the first generations of Stella Maris athletes who competed before the program had a long history to lean upon.
Seyfer is one of those foundational players. Her final season should be measured by her victories, but her influence cannot be confined to a win-loss record. She is helping establish what Stella Maris girls tennis expects from its best player, its senior leader and the athlete standing first in line when the most difficult opponent arrives.
Years from now, future Sentinels will hear stories about the players who helped build their program. At the top of that early list should be Della Seyfer — not simply because she played No. 1 singles, but because she showed everyone coming after her how that position, and a young program, should be carried.
