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Welcome 2020! The Chamber Board wrapped up 2019 by completion of its annual Board retreat in December! Sincerest thanks to The Slone Group for facilitating this session. Incoming Chair, Aspen Murphy, of Marathon Petroleum in Garyville, is eager to set the groundwork for a year of not only success, but also continued growth! You will have the opportunity to hear from her in some of these monthly columns on progression and activities to take place throughout the year.

Your local Chamber celebrates its 16^th year of serving as your local Chamber of Commerce. The Annual Banquet takes place Friday, Jan. 17, with its installation of new directors. You can also expect the annual Crawfish Boil and Golf Tournament to continue this year as two of our largest-attended networking events! One of our new offerings will be a Women’s Empowerment Session. More details will be provided once they are finalized. As the remainder of the year’s events are also finalized, we are looking forward to success from projected growth in membership, engagement across the board with increased relationship/partnership building within and beyond the parish lines.

We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Louisiana Small Business Development Center by continuing a theme of small business roundtables and seminars to targeted businesses markets. Please be sure to take advantage of these opportunities created for you specifically! We need YOU to help build a regional mentality. You may recall the effort the Chamber has openly supported, the regional workforce development plan for the River Parishes called Louisiana Calling. This program successfully launched in Fall 2019. Stay tuned to the chamber website and your local newspaper and social media avenues for additional updates as this program continues to be marketed.

We are looking for a few good leaders! All members, great and small, are encouraged to reflect and consider one to two hours a month in some fashion either with Ambassadors, Business Development, Communications, Public Policy, Workforce Development, or attending the Crawfish Boil or Golf Tourney. This is a great way to market yourself and your business to fellow chamber members and the community in general!

Leadership River Region 2020 progresses strong into their sessions with 24 attendees. Registration for the next class will open May 2020! This has been a great experience for many in a variety of ways. Thanks again to The Slone Group for their facilitation to help us to instill a platform to build future leaders within the Chamber and our communities. More thanks goes to our Program Sponsors, Dow and Shell, along with additional sponsors: Valero, Atmos Energy, and Entergy. We certainly could not produce this program without your support! For more info on how to become a sponsor of this wonderful program, contact the Chamber at 985-359-9777 or visit www.riverregionchamber.org.

Stay tuned to the calendar at www.riverregionchamber.org. If you’re not using your Member app, contact us today to get up to speed on using this benefit.

Have you liked us on Facebook yet? We’re almost there. Help us reach 1000! https://www.facebook.com/riverregionchamber/.

Chassity McComack is the Executive Director of the River Region Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at chassity@riverregionchamber.org or 985-359-9777.