On the heels of an amazing conference and looking ahead at the future of this Chamber, it’s such an exciting time! I want to take a moment to share how we are continuing to accelerate our leadership and business impact, the plans to Celebrate Athens, and inspire underrepresented communities at our Women’s+ Summit.

Hearing from the leaders of our industry at the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Annual Convention, Accelerate, it is clear that the Chamber industry is going through a renaissance. No longer are we just a networking social group of bygone days, but also problem solvers for our businesses and communities. This requires us to focus on three pillars to continue to serve you: community impact, courageous leadership, and matching model to mission. The size of the chamber does not equal the size of the impact that we can have on our community and we know that it is through courageous leadership that we can drive collaboration and innovation as we align our model to our mission. I’m proud to say that thanks to the leadership of the Board of Directors and our collaborators at our 2021 Strategic Plan Retreat, we already have a head start on these three pillars.

 

Contribute to the Celebrate Athens Time Capsule

 

As we look ahead to a fundraiser that we are welcoming back for the first time since 2019, I’m immensely excited to Celebrate Athens at this auction and dinner. With a focus on local, the resilient businesses and leaders who marched through a tough couple of years, and the unique space that is Athens, we are currently building amazing packages for our live auction and gathering items for a silent auction. Unique to this year is our time capsule and celebration of 50 years of serving you! We are working with local fabricators to create a one-of-a-kind time capsule and hope to collaborate with local organizations to assist in safekeeping and displaying that capsule for the next 50 years until it is unsealed. We are asking for our business community to share mementos, advertisements, or other items to show what business was like in 2022. The Chamber will also be including some of our historical items, such as printed ChamberGrams from 1996 and on. Find out more about how to contribute and what we are looking for here.

The planning committee is hard at work for the Women’s+ Summit. This conference, with a slightly updated name to better recognize our intent to center the voices of all historically marginalized genders, is certainly on track to be yet another phenomenally-empowering event. Due to the success of proposals this year and last year, we have decided to open another set of sessions for guests to select from. It is so encouraging to see so many strong leaders step forward to share their expertise, knowledge, and experience. If you would like to show your support for the Women’s+ Summit, sponsorship opportunities are now available – learn more here.

Inspired,