Michigan Chamber of Commerce Announces New Executive Leadership Team
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce today announced a new four-member executive leadership team. In 2019, the Michigan Chamber will celebrate 60 years of helping Chamber members solve their business problems and prosper.
To continue the Michigan Chamber's tradition of leadership and accomplishment, we must constantly strive to be an efficient, high-performing business organization that encourages professional development of Chamber staff," said Michigan Chamber President & CEO Rich Studley. To prepare for the next decade of challenges and opportunities facing Michigan's business community, I am pleased to announce the following, well-deserved promotions.
Jim Holcomb is promoted to Executive Vice President of the Chamber. Holcomb joined the Chamber staff in 2008. Holcomb most recently served as Senior Vice President for Business Advocacy & General Counsel. Jim will continue to serve as General Counsel and will continue to be engaged in legislative, legal and political action on behalf of the Chamber while becoming increasingly involved in executive management of the organization.
Bob Thomas is promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Thomas joined the Chamber staff in 1997. He most recently served as Vice President of Operations and Executive Director of the Michigan Chamber Foundation. In his new role, Bob will lead the Chamber's membership development team and continue to supervise daily operations for the Chamber.
Rounding out the Chamber's new executive leadership team is Wendy Block, who is promoted to Vice President of Business Advocacy. Block joined the Chamber staff in 2004. Wendy most recently served as Senior Director of Health Policy, Human Resources & Business Advocacy. She will continue to be engaged on health policy and human resources while guiding the Chamber's lobby team on a wide range of economic and business issues.
Rich Studley, who is now one of the longest serving state chamber executives in the country, will continue to lead the Michigan Chamber as President & CEO.
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce is a statewide business organization representing over 6,000 employers, trade associations and local chambers of commerce. The Chamber represents employers of every size and type in all 83 counties of the state. Chamber members employ over one million Michigan residents. The Chamber was established in 1959 to be an advocate for Michigan's job providers in the legislative, political and legal process.
SOURCE Michigan Chamber of Commerce
Crossroads Regional Chamber of Commerce 2017 Community Profile & Membership Directory
The Crossroads Regional Chamber of Commerce 2017 Community Profile & Membership Directory is available at the Crossroads Regional Chamber today! Thanks to Sue Reed and the chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!
Town SquarePublications (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.
New Petersburg Chamber of Commerce President Thaddeus Huff talks about his goals
The Petersburg Chamber of Commerce officially introduced Thaddeus N. Huff as the business group’s new president last week. Huff will take over from former president Danielle Fitz-Hugh, who left last October to become the president of the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce.
“This was a really great opportunity to be a part of the building of a city,” said Huff. “I’m really excited about the opportunities with economic development and how it can impact the community.”
Huff attended college at the University of Michigan, and completed his master’s degree in public policy at Western Carolina University. He spent several years with AmeriCorps, where he says he realized he “wanted to community build.” Before coming to the Richmond area in 2011, Huff worked with the United Way in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Huff’s most recent position was as the executive director of BizWorks, a Chesterfield-based business incubator focused primarily on assisting small businesses.
Drawing from his experience with BizWorks, Huff is hoping to make the city an easier place for businesses, specifically small businesses, to open up shop and flourish.
“From what I’ve seen, the city itself is on a rebound,” he said. “Now we need to focus on how we can make it a better place to do business, because when our businesses prosper, they’re able to grow and invest more back into the city.”
Part of making the city an easier place to do business is educating the chamber members. Huff envisions chamber members being able to take better advantage of luncheons or gatherings where speakers can instruct about making their businesses successful.
“We have to do a lot to protect [small businesses] so they can prosper and continue to provide good jobs,” he said.
Huff also hopes to encourage residents to start “micro-businesses,” meaning small companies that only have 1-5 employees – small operations where owners might not have had access to formal business education. Huff said he envisions equipping more people to become micro-business owners, giving them more resources that are normally only available to larger businesses. Read more: Mineral Daily News Tribune
Tomah Chamber receives top honor at Wisconsin Main Street Awards
The Tomah Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitor’s Bureau’s remodel of the 1930s Department of Natural Resources ranger station into the new Chamber building has won a statewide award.
The organization took top honors at the April 27 Wisconsin Main Street Awards Ceremony in Ripon in the Connect Communities: Population over 5,500 category, hosted by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Mark Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, congratulated the Tomah Chamber for its work with the remodel and efforts to revitalize the downtown.
“A vibrant downtown is critical to a community’s overall economic development as well as the quality of life for its residents,” Hogabn said. “We commend Tomah Chamber and Visitors Center for being among the best in the state when it comes to strengthening its downtown.”
The award recognizes efforts made by volunteers and staff of the Wisconsin Main Street program for historic preservation and downtown economic development efforts of Wisconsin communities in 2017.
Wisconsin Main Street is a community development program administered by WEDC that targets Wisconsin’s historic commercial districts. WEDC provides technical support and training to the 33 Main Street communities to help them revitalize their business districts based on guidelines developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Chamber and CVB has been part of the program since 2015.
Tina Thompson, Tomah Chamber and CVB executive director, said it was a huge honor to be recognized at a state level. She said she was proud to be able to bring the award back to Tomah to show off all the work that was done.
“We had a lot of options when we considered where to develop our permanent location,” she said. “The preservation of this building and its proximity to Tomah’s downtown was an opportunity we couldn’t ignore. Despite numerous hurdles we would have to surmount, the investment was in our future and for the entire community of Tomah.” Read more: LaCrosse Tribune
Check it out at https://chamber.frankjkenny.com/cpws
Enrollment is now open!
“We had a lot of options when we considered where to develop our permanent location,” she said. “The preservation of this building and its proximity to Tomah’s downtown was an opportunity we couldn’t ignore. Despite numerous hurdles we would have to surmount, the investment was in our future and for the entire community of Tomah.” Read more: LaCrosse Tribune
Announcing the Frank J. Kenny
Through industry surveys and feedback from our recent free training on the Chamber Road Map to Social Media Success, you told us you wanted this training.
Check it out at https://chamber.frankjkenny.com/cpws
Enrollment is now open!
Ivy Tech Partners With Indiana Chamber For Workforce Development
A new partnership between the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and Ivy Tech Community College will make tuition discounts available to some Hoosier employees as part of an existing program at the 2-year college.
Ivy Tech’s Achieve Your Degree program connects Hoosiers with education programs – and financial aid options – to build their career credentials. The new partnership between Ivy Tech and the Indiana Chamber expands those efforts and includes a 5 percent discount on tuition costs not already covered by financial aid, for employees at the chamber’s member companies.
Ivy Tech’s Senior Vice President for Workforce Alignment, Chris Lowery, says, it’s a response to the state’s growing workforce needs.
“I think the way we’re looking at it is, the need is vast. I mean it is enormous, again, I hear from employers every day that they just don’t have all the talent they need,” he says.
Lowery says the new partnership is a key piece of the college’s goals to increase the median wage in Indiana, and the number of degrees and certificates awarded at Ivy Tech each year.
The chamber also sees it as a way to hit its own targets. The Chamber’s Vice President of Communication and Operations Tom Schuman says the group’s wide-reaching business connections make it easier to spread the word about the program.
“We have 45-50 events a year in which we do training, a lot of it’s HR and safety training, well we have the right people in the room to help make them aware of Achieve Your Degree,” he says.
Ivy Tech started Achieve Your Degree in 2015. Schuman says growing it will allow employers to do even more to skill up Indiana’s workforce, a key goal for the chamber by 2025. Read more: WFYI Indianapolis
Community Development Foundation meeting: Airport plan looks to expand, improve service
Community Development Foundation meeting: Airport plan looks to expand, improve service
With commercial air service providing reliability and dependability once again, the Tupelo Regional Airport can focus more attention on the long-term viability of the airport.
In a meeting Friday at the Community Development Foundation, airport officials and consultant Allen & Hoshall, spoke to some city and business leaders about the airport’s strategic plan.
“The purpose of the meeting is to talk about what improvements in infrastructure, what services or amenities the airport can do to help each and everybody in the city, the county and the surrounding area to meet their needs or help accomplish their goals,” said Cliff Nash, the airport’s executive director.
“It’s not just about commercial service. It’s also the ability to land and take off aircraft for tenants like UAM, corporate clients and chartered flights; and it’s about different land uses near and around the airport”
Harry Pratt, the president of Allen & Hoshall, said there are opportunities the airport can address now and several long-term possibilities as well.
An urgent issue the airport is addressing now is the lighting on the taxiway, Pratt said.
The Federal Aviation Administration inspects airports yearly to ensure the lighting and signage on runways and taxiways meet certain standards, but the taxiway at Tupelo Regional are inadequate, Pratt said.
“The FAA had some issues in Tupelo, but it’s under design,” he said. “We actually bid it out last year, but the grant fell apart at the FAA level. Cliff got that back on track this year, and now we should be able to bid it this month and then have it done in about four months. That’s the most pressing issue.”
Pratt sees great opportunity for the fixed based operator, or FBO (in this case, Tupelo Aviation Unlimited) to improve services – and revenue – by moving from its current location on Lemons Drive to a spot next to Air Park Road.
Allen & Hoshall envision a modern executive terminal for the FBO, which provides maintenance, fuel, hangaring, flight instruction and other services. A large new hangar, up to 20,000 square feet, would accommodate all but the largest of planes. Read more: Daily Journal
5 Star Chamber: Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce 2018 Community Guide & Membership Directory
The Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce 2018 Community Guide & Membership Directory is available at the Rapid City Chamber today! Thanks to Linda Rabe, Lynn Kendall, Shiloh Francis and the chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!
Town Square Publications (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.
#BestChamber practices: Oregon Chamber of Commerce to launch a new Welcome Program
The Oregon Chamber of Commerce is renewing its’ efforts to welcome new home owners to the community.
“Our WELCOME! program is targeted to folks who have chosen to make their home in the 61061 zip code, Oregon, Illinois area,” said Oregon Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Debbie Dickson. “We hope this effort will help to introduce them to our local businesses and chamber members, a way to offer an easy opportunity for them step inside and experience the wide variety of shopping, dining, and services we have in our own back yard.
“We want these folks to know that we are excited to have them choose our community to raise a family, retire, recreate, and relax!,” she said.
The program allows new residents a friendly way to drop by the Chamber office and redeem a Welcome to Oregon postcard that they have received from one of our local realtors at their home sale closing, in exchange for a gift basket of goodies. Read more: OgleCountyNews.com
Kyndle Participating in National Economic Development Week
National Economic Development Week was created and coordinated by the International Economic Development Council, the largest professional membership organization for economic developers. It is being held during the week of the organization's 92nd anniversary as the largest professional membership organization for economic developers, Kyndle announced.
Kyndle, the Kentucky Network for Development, Leadership and Engagement, provides economic development and industrial recruitment leadership in northwestern Kentucky. Its mission is to help business, large and small, by connecting people and communities through economic development and chamber activities. Kyndle is the resource for advancing economic prosperity in Henderson, McLean, Union and Webster counties.
Typically, economic development can be described in terms of objectives. These most commonly include the creation of new jobs and capital investments in our region. IEDC specifically defines economic development as "a set of programs and policies that aid in the creation, retention and expansion of jobs; the development of a stable tax base; and the enhancement of wealth."
Kyndle reported its economic development activities encompasses three initiatives: business retention and expansion, attraction and workforce development. Kyndle provides free and confidential services to companies in the site selection process. Our team works closely with state and local officials to help new and existing companies understand our regional assets. Read more: SurfKY.com
Town Square Publications Chamber Membership Directories and Community Profiles: The best in the U.S.
Town Square Publications, a division of the Daily Herald Media Group, is a national chamber custom publishing group that specializes in developing partnerships by producing high-quality print and digitally integrated publications along with other added value programs dedicated to creating relevancy for local chambers of commerce and other membership focused organizations interested in raising non-dues revenues.
Town Square Publications parent company, Paddock Publications, has over 100 years’ experience of print product development and dedicated customer service in communities throughout the Midwest. Our experience allows Town Square Publications to offer you attractive royalty and non-dues revenue share streams, provide direct distribution of your custom designed printed publications, including digital and mobile integration, and all with the quickest turn-around times available in the industry. Town Square also offers multi-media maps in both print and online formats, both with our No-Cost guarantee. More information: Town Square Publications
Chambers of Commerce and member focused organizations serve as a valuable resource in the local marketplace. The networking opportunities and representation with a wide variety of diverse businesses in your community is the catalyst of a successful organization. For further information about Town Square's publishing partnership with chambers of commerce and our No-Cost guarantee and Earned Revenue Share Program, To request your chamber publication or map proposal, contact Town Square Chamber Proposal
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.