C&C: Financial Intelligence Recap

On Wednesday, July 19th, members of the Chamber and the community gathered for our second Coffee and Conversations event of 2023. These morning networking events were created to provide a space and time in the morning for Chamber members to network and discuss issues important to our businesses and community.

Presenters speaking during the C&C: Financial Intelligence panel. Photo credit: OUCU Financial.

This time around, the topic of our Coffee & Conversations was Financial Intelligence. Our panel discussion featured Mollie Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Athens County Economic Development Council; Larry Fisher, Executive Director of Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet); and Erin Gibson, Certified Business Advisor, and Jessica Kopelwitz, Business Advisor, from The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Ohio University.

Panelists covered a multitude of topics during their wide-ranging discussion, including touching on taxes, credit scores, and access to capital for start-up and existing businesses. One of the biggest takeaways from the discussion was the reminder to use your local resources and experts for help, and to that end we will provide contact information below for all of our panelists.

Additionally, the Chamber also solicited top financial tips from our members in the industry, and you can read the compilation of responses below. Thank you to Athens H&R Block, Atomic Credit Union, Big Time Bookkeeping, Hocking Valley Bank, OUCU Financial, Park National Bank, and Unified Bank for participating!

Many thanks to our sponsors of this event!

The morning featured treats for attendees including coffee and tea provided by Court Street Coffee (check out their newest location on East State Street!) and sponsored by Ohio Means Jobs – Athens County. And Bagel Street Deli showed off their new bagel bar catering service by sponsoring and providing a bagel bar for our attendees. Yum!