Dark replaces Carlos Linares, who resigned to start a marketing communications consulting company.

Dark's duties will include fundraising, expanding services to the chamber's 350 members and managing the group's growth.

Fourteen people applied for the position. Dark was chosen because she "possesses the skill set necessary to build on the legacy of growth and value to our members," said Miguel Rovira, vice-chairman of the chamber board.

Dark helped found the Dual Immersion Academy, which opened in August with 350 students. Spanish is the first language of half the students. English is the primary language of the other half, Dark said.

Previously, she served as editor of Mundo Hispano, a Spanish-language weekly newspaper distributed in the Salt Lake City area.

"She can communicate in both English and Spanish, and she is someone who is so full of fresh air," said Jorge Fierro, the chamber's treasurer.

Dark moved to Salt Lake City in 2005 from Buenos Aires, where she was editor of new projects for Clarin, the world's largest Spanish-language newspaper. One of her duties was to manage a project with the British Broadcasting Corp.

Dark lived in London in the early 1990s, where she helped relaunch defunct magazines such as Homes and Garden and Marie Claire.

"I believe the purpose of the chamber is to help Hispanic businesses, particularly the small ones, that are out of the loop in any large chamber," Dark said.

The chamber can help owners of small businesses meet and learn from larger business proprietors, she said.

"There's always strength in numbers."

pbeebe@sltrib.com