Chamber Blog

Chamber's new name, logo keeping up with regional growth

Well, it's official. The Northwest Valley Chamber of Commerce is now the Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce, as announced at our highly successful and quite enjoyable Copper Sun Awards Banquet on Jan. 11.

Cory McCloskey of Fox 10 served as a gracious (and hilarious) emcee, Committee Chair Karen Wellert, as always, threw one heck of a good party, and most importantly, our members were given the chance to recognize and congratulate a host of chamber award winners for their outstanding contributions to the chamber and the community.

Special thanks go to our generous sponsors, to the Union Hills Country Club for a terrific venue, and to our Awards Banquet Committee for help in putting it all together. As always, it was outstanding teamwork by the chamber staff, our dedicated volunteers and committee members, which made for an outstanding evening. Congratulations and thank you to all of our award winners.

Read full story [AZ Central]

Olathe Chamber of Commerce - Time to learn Chinese!

The Olathe Chamber of Commerce is partnering with the Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas to offer a short course in Chinese business culture and survival language skills. Classes are 3:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Jan. 29.

Chamber marks 100 years

Gainesville wasn’t exactly a boom town in 1908.

The railroad stopped here, but paved roads were a thing of the future. It was a horse-and-buggy town, but that was soon to change when in Detroit an entrepreneur named Henry Ford began producing the Model T.

It was also the year that a group of Gainesville businessmen got together and formed the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce.

For a tidy sum of $6, a business could become a member of the new chamber. But the idea didn’t exactly catch on like wildfire. In fact, it didn’t get off the ground until the chamber reorganized three years later and dropped the annual dues to $3.

For 100 years, what is now the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce has been a part of the community. Through its economic development efforts, the chamber has brought billions of dollars in new industry to the region.

Some of it remains here, other business enterprises have seen their time come and go.

This year, the chamber is having a year-long celebration of its founding. The highlight of the year is a lavish gala that will take place May 2. Planning for the event, being billed as the "Party of the Century," still is underway.

"We are really excited about being 100 years old," said Kit Dunlap, president and chief executive of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce. "We want to celebrate, but we want to leave a legacy for this community."

Dunlap gives credit to the business executives who came together to form the organization in 1908.

"I doubt they would recognize Gainesville today, but they planted the seed with business and government working together to make this community what it is today. That leadership is still here," she said.

The chamber has celebrated many milestones of the community during its century.

Read full story [Gainesville Times]

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Chamberfind.com the World Wide Chamber of Commerce Guide is the internets leading guide to find a Chamber of Commerce. Update your free chamber listing along with local attractions.

Hilton Head Chamber wins marketing awards

The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce won two awards from the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association’s International Adrian Awards.

The Chamber won the two awards with its public relations agency, Weber Shandwick, and advertising agency, SMITH. One was a gold award for best feature placement-television for a three-minute live segment on the CBS “Saturday Early Show.”

The other was a silver award for Web marketing tourism category for the island’s “Come Away with Me” brand campaign.

US conferring with foreign regulators on stock turmoil: Paulson

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Tuesday he has been conferring with his foreign counterparts on measures to restore calm to roiling global stock markets.

Speaking at the US Chamber of Commerce following sharp falls on Asian and European stock markets Monday which were largely tied to fears about a potential US recession, Paulson stressed the Treasury was keeping a close eye on market developments.

"I and my team have been actively engaged with policymakers here and around the world as we closely monitor the global equity correction," Paulson said.

The Treasury chief spoke as the Federal Reserve announced it had slashed its base US interest rate by an unprecedented three quarters of a percentage point to 3.50 percent amid mounting recession fears.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down just over one percent, or 131.12 points, at 11,968.18 at 1708 GMT as fears about US economic momentum unsettled Wall Street which had been closed Monday due to a public holiday.

"I continue to have confidence in the underlying strength of the global economy," Paulson said.

Read full story [AFP]

Promo Video for the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce

Hopkins students get early start on business

Ten students from the Hopkins school district will begin participating in monthly TwinWest Chamber of Commerce meetings and events. It's one of three similar partnerships in the metro area.

These Hopkins High School students are the Twin West Chamber of Commerce's newest members: Jake Anderson, Brooke Burton, Bennet Chargo, Logan Dick, Ethan Lang, Gabriel Medema, Grant Rorem, Ericka Rice, Nick Stender and Lauren Vickers.
More from West Metro

Seventeen-year-old Lauren Vickers and Jake Anderson aren't exactly who you would expect to be hobnobbing at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. But beginning this month, they'll be there.

Vickers, Anderson and eight classmates from Hopkins High School became full-fledged members of the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce at a kickoff event for them and their parents on Thursday.

The new program is the result of a partnership between TwinWest, the Hopkins School District and TDS Metrocom of Eagan.

TwinWest President Barbara Obershaw said it's the third school district-chamber partnership the company has sponsored in the metro area. Arlington High School in St. Paul and Eden Prairie High School have similar programs.

"I want to see how business people relate to each other ," Vickers said. "I think by showing an interest in their community, business people make a very big difference."

Vickers, a high school junior who addresses adults as "ma'am" and "sir," said she's interested in a career in law or business.

Anderson, of Minnetonka, said he knows that TwinWest is an affiliation of business people but definitely wants to know more about the organization. "I know it's a good opportunity," said Anderson, who plans to pursue a business degree after high school.

Obershaw said TwinWest members realize that the students might not know much about their programs. But that won't be the case a few months from now.

Read full story [Star Tribune]

Global Economy - State of American Business

Tom Donohue with the US Chamber of Commerce talks about the State of American business and the global economy.

Grand Rapids Area Chamber survey finds frustrations

G.R. Area Chamber of Commerce President Jeanne Englehart.Frustration with the state's leadership and a need to make Michigan more business-friendly were common issues in an annual membership survey by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.
Virtually all the survey's nearly 500 respondents indicated they worry about the state's present economic climate, with 87 percent "strongly concerned" and another 12 percent "somewhat concerned."

The survey also found 73 percent of respondents "strongly concerned" about rising health care costs and 29 percent "somewhat concerned."

Business taxes were next on the list, with 55 percent of respondents "strongly concerned" and 30 percent "somewhat concerned."

The chamber termed the results "striking, but not surprising."

Read full story [Mlive.com]