volume 3 issue 8 DeCemBeR 2010 / JANuARY 2011
Transcription
volume 3 issue 8 DeCemBeR 2010 / JANuARY 2011
volume 3 issue 8 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011 1 DECEMBER 6 13 Chamber U – 8:30 a.m. 2 Leadership Durham Chamber U – 8:30 a.m. 9 Chamber U – 8:30 a.m. 16 Social – 4:30 p.m. Legislative Forum & Holiday Reception – 4 p.m. DYP Holiday Mingle & Bull’s Eye Awards 20 23 Chamber Offices Closed 27 30 31 Chamber Offices Closed 6 JANUARY 31 Leadership Durham Social – 4:30 p.m. Chamber U – 8:30 a.m. 13 Chamber U – 8:30 a.m. 20 PRIMETIME – 5:30 p.m. Chamber U – 8:30 a.m. 27 2 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011 PUBLIC POLICY What does the Nov. 2 election mean for Durham? Tuesday, Nov. 2 was a historic day for our Nation, the State of North Carolina and the people of Durham. Locally, Durham was one of few counties whose voters supported a local referendum – a $20 million General Obligation Bond for Street Improvements. Elsewhere, at least 18 counties saw ballot measures fail, the majority of which were for Sales and Use taxes – thank you Durham! Despite the partisan ideals and philosophies, Durham still has tremendous leadership in both chambers of the North Carolina State Legislature. Given the shift in political power we will no longer have the senior chairman over the House Appropriations Committee or the senior chair of the House Finance Committee – which are unarguably the two most important committees in both the State Senate and House of Representatives. Once you look at the political makeup of Durham, the change in political parties and political leadership may likely affect budgetary requests from the City and County to those with voting power within the state legislature. Durham is one of the most democratic counties in the State based on voting records and the percentage of registrants from the two major political parties. So what does this mean for Durham? Durham has the opportunity to positively position itself and to potentially propose legislation that supports infrastructural needs or incentives for venture capitalists or angle investors to support local start-ups. Signs of lower health care costs point to Save your company money over a traditional PPO,1 without going to a high-deductible health plan. Now, with free generics for a full 6 months!2 The Nov. 2 election spoke to American’s demand for a rebound in the economy and the need to see jobs, jobs and more jobs! As the economic development arm for the Durham County, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce sees 2011 as a the year for opportunity and not the year for complacency. 1 Up to 30% potential savings compared to our most popular PPO plan. 2 Copayments and coinsurance waived on all covered generic drugs on the Formulary Tier 1 for a full six months for groups with 51-249 eligible employees. Groups must enroll between July 1 and December 31, 2009 to qualify. An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. U6591, 7/09 YOUR ADVERTISEMENT COULD BE HERE! FOR RATES, CONTACT SHEENA JOHNSON COOPER at [email protected] WWW.DURHAMCHAMBER.ORG MEET THE LEADERSHIP DURHAM MEMBERS KEITH ANTHONY Attorney, K& L Gates, LLP JANE BULLOCK Junior League of Durham & Orange County GARRETT CLARK Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce SCOTT COLLIE Suntrust Mortgage SAM CROCKETT The Aya Center JACQUIE DEMIANCZYK The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham 3 Chamber welcomes Leadership Durham Class of 2011 Leadership Durham was formed by the Chamber in 1972 when area business and civic leaders wanted to identify and train future leaders for our incredible community. Durham’s Mayor Bill Bell was a member of the first graduating class of 1972. In over three decades over 980 participants have graduated from the program. Very exciting program changes are underway being lead by the Class of 2011 in response to recommendations from steering committees and participants of prior years. Class of 2011 RYAN EVES YMCA of the Triangle - Durham Branches GEORGE HINING MHAworks SUSAN JOSEPHSON AICPA DANIELLE KUSHNER The Streets at Southpoint (GGP) DEL MATTIOLI New York Life Here are a few samples of what we are doing: • Program expanded from 6 to 8 months, meeting once a month instead of twice a month, thereby reducing absenteeism and intensifying the session’s learning experience. • Participants will continue to learn from area business and civic leaders through a series of panel and lecture discussions coupled with increased opportunities for onsite experiential learning. • There is only one class project this year and it is entirely focused on Leadership Durham’s 40th Anniversary celebration to be held in 2012. BETSY O’DONOVAN The Herald Sun TONI PECK Williams Mullen CURTIS RILEY III Duke University - Fuqua School of Business SUSAN SCOTT Frontier Communications ALTHIA SCRIVEN Durham Public Schools SHELLY TAYLOR NCCU - Community Economic Development Initiative ASHLEY WOHL Smith & Nephew Inc. ALEXANDRA ZAGBAYU Student U Special thanks to our Leadership Durham 2011 sponsors BB&T | Chamblee Graphics Calling all Leadership Durham Alumni! Please send your current contact information to [email protected] and join us on Linkedin under the group ‘Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce – Leadership Durham Alum’. Better yet, come meet the Class of 2011 who will be gathering at a local establishment from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each month to meet you! This will be an awesome opportunity for everyone to sit back, relax, and reflect on their Leadership Durham experiences while getting to know each other. Destination details will appear on the Chamber’s calendar and through our Linkedin group. Mark your calendar for one of the dates below to meet the class! December 2, 2010 | January 6, 2011 | February 3, 2011 March 3, 2011 | March 17, 2011 | April 7, 2011 | May 5, 2011 4 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Downtown: The New Epicenter of the Triangle’s Dynamic Entrepreneurial Community the Triangle, and Durham in particular, a magnet for start-up initiatives. In addition, the presence of excellent universities, strong corporate employers/Research Triangle Park, the low cost of living and doing business and the presence of companies that were started here and have scaled successfully such as Cree, Red Hat, Quintiles and SAS add to the allure. PHOTO CREDIT: STEWART WALLER, DURHAM RISING Fast Company magazine wrote in its latest edition that if an entrepreneur is interested in starting a tech business they should not in Silicon Valley; but here in the Triangle. In the same week, Tech Journal South noted that Durham is quickly emerging as the technology hub of the Triangle. Press like this is incredibly valuable in putting Durham on the map as the entrepreneurial destination of the Southeast. Adam Smith, vice president at Square 1 Bank and director of its early-stage banking arm Square Roots, observed that our region’s well know strengths - a positive attitude for collaboration, strong infrastructure, and presence of talent and technology—are what make Recently, Durham City Council approved incentives to attract global mobile phone manufacturer HTC to downtown Durham. Local newspaper writers noted that the arrival of HTC at American Tobacco Historic District (ATHD) could serve to cement downtown Durham and in particular ATHD as an emerging hub for technology companies in the Triangle. In many ways, a high-tech hub has already emerged in downtown Durham started by the development of the American Tobacco campus. The potential location of HTC at American Tobacco only serves to highlight the development of downtown Durham as a high point in community and the region. Interestingly, HTC would be an ideal complement to the tech hub located downtown because the firm will further reinforce the area as a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurship. A number of high tech firms have located in downtown Durham in the past decade including McKinney, Bronto Software, Zenph, Archibus, Compuware, Pocketgear, Oncosope, Regado, Renasas, Slate Pharmaceuticals, Viget Labs, LaunchBox, Joystick Labs, Topsail Technologies, Precision BioScience, Duke University and Duke University Healthcare System, and Grassroots Technologies. HTC ex- ecutives are particularly excited about the synergy that will happen between HTC and the local entrepreneurs already developing mobile applications and smartphone technology. In the development world, each location or departure of a company has a reaction. In the case of GlaxoSmithKline’s strategic decision to move its entire Triangle-based workforce onto their campus in RTP - this action will open up nearly 90,000 square feet of highly prized office space in ATHD. Already, a number of companies are lining up to lease this attractive space. This phenomenon serves to highlight how successful our community has been in terms of developing productive public-private partnerships that stimulated the development of exciting projects such as American Tobacco Historic District, West Village, Measurement Incorporated’s campus and hopefully soon the conversion of the former Hill Building into a boutique hotel and the adaptive reuse of the Chesterfield Building; all of which serve to create an exciting and dynamic downtown attractive to technology oriented companies in which to locate. Downtown Durham now serves at the key centerpiece for Durham’s identity and economic development marketing. Wow, what a difference a focused, community effort makes when driven by a well-shaped vision and supported by market driven comprehensive plans under the effective stewardship of Downtown Durham, Inc. WWW.DURHAMCHAMBER.ORG 5 Chamber forms Community Advisory Board In October 2010, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce launched its Community Advisory Board. The Community Advisory Board is a separate board of the Chamber comprised of a diverse group of leaders representing various parts of the Durham community, such as non-profits, colleges and universities, healthcare, and economic development. “The Chamber considers these organizations key players in creating a better Durham,” said Casey Steinbacher, the Chamber’s president & CEO. “The Community Advisory Board will assist the Chamber in directing and prioritizing our efforts in community development.” The founding members of the Community Advisory Board are the original ad-hoc community representatives of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. The group will meet quarterly. Looking for a school where your child will be valued as a unique individual? 2011 Community Advisory Board ANGELICA OBERLEITHNER Durham’s Partnership for Children Jim & Carolyn Hunt Child Care Resource Center MAYOR WILLIAM V. (BILL) BELL Durham City Council MARYANN E. BLACK, MSW, LCSW Duke University Health System SHERRY L. DEVRIES Durham Arts Council SHELLY GREEN Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau DR. ERIC BECOATS Durham Public Schools DR. WILLIAM G. INGRAM Durham Technical Community College WILLIAM A. KALKHOF Downtown Durham, Inc. STARLA TANNER North Carolina Central University REV. MICHAEL D. PAGE Durham County Board of Commissioners DR. PHAIL WYNN Duke University At CFS, we do exactly that. In the tradition of Quaker education, we are committed to academic excellence that challenges and nurtures every student according to their potential, thanks to our dynamic curriculum and 9:1 student-teacher ratio. We invite you to learn for yourself by attending our Main Campus Open House on Sunday, December 12, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. For information, call 919.383.6602 x221 or visit us at www.cfsnc.org Carolina Friends School One of the real joys of the Holiday Season is the opportunity to say thank you. We appreciate everything you do for our community. May your holidays and new year be filled with peace, joy and prosperity. The Durham Chamber staff 6 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011 MEMBERSHIP Membership Event brings in new members On Oct. 5-7, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce utilized the resources of nearly 100 Chamber member and community volunteers to help facilitate a massive membership campaign to not only bring in 126 new members, but to let the community know all of the great things the Chamber does on a daily basis to support Durham’s thriving business economy. “We are thrilled with the results of this membership drive,” said Casey Steinbacher, the Chamber’s president & CEO. “In just two and a half days, we were able to bring in more members and spread the word about the Chamber. We could not have done it without the help of such great volunteers.” The Lime Green Team (Ultimate Sales Connection) and the Black Team (SunTrust) combined forces to be the winners of the event, bringing in $11,645 in new members. Scott Harmon (Center Studio Architecture) had the highest number of individual sales with nine new members Peggy McIntyre (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) had the highest dollar amount of sales with $3,170. New members and current members of the Chamber will have the opportunity to meet in January at the PRIMETIME Business After Hours! Stay tuned for more information about what is guaranteed to be the largest networking event of the year! Special thanks to the following individuals and companies that helped to make this event great! American Audio Visual Carolina Theatre Chick-fil-A – RTP Durham Coca Cola Foster’s Market Homewood Suites by Hilton Meineke Car Care Ctr. Outsider’s Art Gallery Pop’s Restaurant Rue Cler Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club Wine Authorities Springhill Suites by Marriott Durham/Chapel-Hill On a smarter planet, the question isn’t what can we do. The question is what will we do? Let’s build a smarter planet. ibm.com/think IBM, the IBM logo and ibm.com are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. WWW.DURHAMCHAMBER.ORG MEMBERSHIP 7 Check out all of the new members who joined Oct. 5-7 Acanthus Construction Adams Chetwood Wealth Management Aesthetic Oral Health Allstate Insurance Company - Ava Alston Alpha Management Community Services, Inc. Always Best Care Senior Services of Chapel-Durham Aon Insurance Ashton Trevethan and Company AVCON, Inc Beta Alpha Phi Biosignia, Inc. Biz Com Web Svc Blue Atlantic Group Body Billboards Builders of Hope Bull City Insurance Agency By Regina Gale The C W Law Group, PC Cambria Suites RDU Capital Financial Solutions Carolina Behavioral Care, PA Claring Technology Group Clayton’s Car Care Contactology CPA2Biz Croasdaile Dental Arts Darryls Coins Dolly’s Vintage Scott Donner, DDS Down Under Gallery Ebner Financial Group Edward Jones - Tim Hinton Eno Limo Enterprise Distribution Entity Incorportated EPG Technology Inc./dba New York Technology Co. Financial Directions Firestream Media Foundation Xperts Frazee Carpet & Interiors Fusion Multicultural Marketing & Communications Gaylor Inc. of North Carolina - Raleigh Geami LTD General Rental Center Green Plus Greer & Assoc Grill Masters Gurley’s Pharmacy Hall Wynne Funeral Service Crematory Health Outsources, Inc Hemisphere Beverages Hennessey Law, PC High Point Solutions, Inc. Housing for New Hope Infill Development The Insurance Pros International Minute Press J. D. Morris Construction Joe Wrenn, CPA, P.C. JD Plumbing & Construction Company The Juvenile Diabetes Triangle/Eastern Chapter Kberg Consultants Klik Technologies Kyroshere Lee Street Construction LeMays AV Integration Maplewood Building Co Marsosudino and Co. LLC Martha McKee Attorney at Law Massey Real Estate Maupin Travel Maximo Mukelabai CPA, PC David McKenzie, Attorney at Law Meelo’s Restaurant MetaMetrics MS Designs Embroidery, LLC NC VIP Home Inspections Obey & Protect Oceanic Communications One Cow Standing, LLC W. D. Osborne Construction Parata Systems, LLC The Michael F. Pearl, CPA Firm, P.C. Pinnacle Personal Training Posh The Salon Prompt Mailers, Inc Renovision Properties Roughton Nickelson, De Luca Architects Roush Financial Saturn InfoTech, Inc Schoolhouse Seagroves Realty Secure Network Administration Sierra Structures Smashing Boxes Smith Orthodontics Sokal Media Group Law Offices of Laurel E. Solomon, PLLC Southern Borders SpoonFlower Spring Tree Realty Spritzer Commercial Properties Steadman Willis, DMD Strategic Signs Successful Solutions MHS, Inc Summit Performance Systems Sunrise Contracting Synergy Commercial Advisors Tarheel Trophy & Plaque Company, Inc Tiffany L. Ashhurst Triangle Auto Recycles Triangle Brewing Co Triangle Business Forms Trinity Partners Construction Troutman Sanders, LLP Valassis Valsquesz Digital Media Communications Volunteer Center of Durham Voyager Academy The Waggoner Group Frank Ward Realtors Warren Printing Your Chamber Connection 8 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011 Membership Renewals MEMBERSHIP *As of Nov. 4 The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce would like to say thank you to the following businesses that have renewed their investment in the Chamber for one more year! As you know, chamber membership is one of the important keys to business success. Membership provides a number a resources and opportunities for businesses to grow and succeed. Thank you for your support of the Chamber and the business community! Accent Hardwood Flooring, Inc. Accentuate Staffing Alfred Williams & Company American Party Rentals, Inc. Anesnah Design & Marketing Any Lab Test Now Robert H. Appleby Automation Electrical Company Brenntag Southeast, Inc. Bryant-Durham Services Inc. Bullock’s Bar B Cue, Inc. Camp Bow Wow Durham/RTP Caring House Centurion Construction Co., Inc. Chamblee Graphics Chatham Steel Clegg’s Termite & Pest Control LLC Clements Funeral Service Coach America Costco Durham #249 Dickerson Fencing & Landscaping Linda Dickerson Interiors, Inc. DTW Architects & Planners Ltd. Duke School Durham Literacy Center Durham’s Partnership For Children, Inc. Emerson Waldorf School Euroclassics, Ltd. Family Health International Fargo Hanna Ltd. Oriental Rug Gallery FeatureTel Feeling Great! / Second Breath / Sleep Medical Clinic First In Families Of North Carolina Freudenberg IT LP Hedrick Murray PLLC Hendrick Auto Mall Herring & Bickers Insurance Agency Hock Development Corp. InStepp, Inc. Intangibles, LLC JMC (USA), Inc. Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. Kontek Systems, Inc. LMHT Associates N.C. Institute of Minority Economic Development North Carolina Central University The Persian Carpet, Inc. Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC Pinpoint Properties, LLC Professional Recovery Consultants, Inc. RE/MAX Winning Edge Rosenstein Vision Center Michael Jordan’s RPM Nissan RTI International Standard Pacific of the Carolinas, LLC Stone Bros. & Byrd, Inc Threshold, Inc. Steve Toler, LLC Transition of Youth, Inc. - Troy House Triangle Land Conservancy TROSA Moving & Storage UAI Technology, Inc. Urban Ministries of Durham White Building Inc. Welcome New Members! The following firms recently made the smart business decision to join the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce! Please take a few minutes to review this list of businesses, and when you need a product or service they provide, consider giving them a call. Thanks to these firms for joining the Chamber! 604 West Morgan Featuring Cinellis Association for Corporate Growth Raleigh-Durham BC Innovations, Inc. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle, Inc. Clean Energy Durham Edward Jones - Julie Kelly Franchise Mart/Biz1 Brokers of Chapel Hill/Durham Fullsteam Brewery The Greeting Express, Inc. The Hair Design School Integrated Technology, Inc. Lango Kids RTP The Little Green Software LKC Web Design Massage Envy Southpoint Merge Records Montie Design Steve Nicewarner, CPA, Realtor/Weichert Realtors Paychex, Inc. Pre Paid Legal Services, Inc. RGJ & Associates Sign-A-Rama of Durham/Greer & Associates Urban Planet Mobile *As of Nov. 8 RIBBON CUTTINGS Congratulations to WinStar Homes and Sandella’s Flatbread Cafe for recently celebrating ribbon cutting ceremonies and introducing their services to the Chamber membership and community. Is your company interested in having a ribbon cutting ceremony? Email [email protected] for more information. WWW.DURHAMCHAMBER.ORG THANK YOU TO OUR MEMBERSHIP CAMPAIGN TEAM MEMBERS FOR A 9 SAVE THE DATE MEMORABLE EVENT! Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce ANNUAL MEETING Wednesday, February 9, 2011 Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center Registration available at www.durhamchamber.org. LIVE SOLID presents PRIMETIME EXHIBIT BANK SOLID Helping you get and stay on solid ground. MEET GREET Thursday, January 20, 2011 5 - 7 p.m. Mark your calendars for what is expected to be the largest networking event of the year…PRIMETIME! There’s no better way to kick off the new year than making serious connections! In addition to networking, PRIMETIME provides new members a table top opportunity to display their products and services to the entire membership. Join us for an evening of fun, food and mega connections! For more information, please contact Mable Rogers at 328-8731 or [email protected]. SunTrust Bank, Member FDIC. ©2008 SunTrust Banks, Inc. SunTrust is a federally registered service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. Live Solid. Bank Solid.SM is a service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. 10 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Career EXPO a success! Nearly 1,000 Durham middle school students and their parents/guardians attended the Career EXPO on November 9. The students walked away with valuable information eager to further explore all the career options available to them. The Chamber would like to thank all the sponsors of the Career EXPO as well as the more than 100 career professionals that volunteered. Presenting Sponsor:  PARTICIPATING COMPANIES Gold Sponsors Chick-fil-A Fairway Outdoor Advertising Northgate Mall Wachovia SILVER SPONSORS Johnny Carino’s – Southpoint Kelly Services McDonald’s, Roxboro Rd. Supporting Sponsors Express Employment Professionals Jenkins, Wilson, Taylor & Hunt, P.A. North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Riley Life Industries Sheetz, Miami Blvd American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Anlyan Consulting, LLC Aten Inc. Beadazzled / Vega Gallery Blackman & Sloop, CPAs, P.A. C.T. Wilson Construction Company Carolina Theatre of Durham CC Black Nurses Council Central Regional Hospital DPS - Lakewood Elementary DTW Architects & Planners, Ltd. Duke / Butner-Creedmoor FP Duke University School of Medicine Duke University: Fuqua School of Business Durham Co. Animal Control Durham Co. Social Services Durham County Durham Family Medicine Durham Technical Community College Edward Jones EMC Corporation ErgoSmith Consulting, LLC Federal Medical Center Futures for Kids GE Aviation GlaxoSmithKline Hershey & Heymann HR Partner Advantage IBM InStepp, Inc. Jason’s Deli Jenkins, Wilson, Taylor & Hunt, P.A. JobLink of Durham County Kamrani Engineering Inc Kelly Services Kruse Chiropractic L A Downey & Son, Inc. McDonald York Building CO. Monarch Services National Jewelry & Pawn NC Museum of Life + Science NC Mutual Life Insurance NC School Science & Math NC Zoological Society New 14 Carolina North Carolina Central University Obey and Protect Parata Systems, LLC Pickett-Sprouse Prestonwood Country Club Progress Energy RedStorm Entertainment Risk Management Associates Ronald McDonald House-Durham Southpoint Animal Hospital SunTrust Bank The Hair Design School The King’s Daughters Inn US EPA at RTP Ward and Smith, P.A. WorkSmart WWW.DURHAMCHAMBER.ORG WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT 11 Futures for Kids helps get students on career path Want to help a child explore career options? Futures for Kids (F4K) makes it easy for local businesses and employers to support Durham Public School students—just go to www.f4k.org/beacareercoach and sign up! You can dialogue with students who share your passions and offer encouragement and guidance based on your own experiences in a readily-accessible online message board format. You can also demonstrate your commitment to bridging the gap between school and work by indicating your willingness to participate in Work-Based Learning opportunities (WBLs), and the students and educators will take it from there. F4K has been providing Durham County students with career exploration, personal electronic portfolios and online mentoring for several years now. This fall, the students started using several new features, including a searchable electronic database for WBLs and an online registration component. Area employers now have a resource for sharing WBLs with students and educators in an easily-maintained, user-friendly electronic database that eliminates much of the difficulty in providing or participating in WBLs. Ranging from hosting job shadowing to participating in a career fair or judging a student presentation, WBLs create a platform for students to gain first-hand experience with the workplace while giving employers a platform to connect with our future workforce, generating enthusiasm and positively impacting their career-readiness. The registration component will allow Durham middle school students to create a four year graduation plan that will follow them through high school while tracking progress toward graduation requirements and reinforcing the relevance between their education and their future goals. It will also expand F4K deeper into the high schools, helping the students as they explore their interests and options and prepare for higher education and the workplace. If you have any questions about F4K or getting involved, please contact Susan Milliken, Executive Director, at 800-965-8541 x205 or [email protected]. JOHN MESSICK, II 2011 Chair, Board of Directors CASEY STEINBACHER President & CEO Connections is a monthly publication of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of content is prohibited. SHEENA JOHNSON COOPER Editor, Director of Communications & Marketing Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce www.durhamchamber.org 300 W. Morgan Street, Suite 1400 Durham, NC 27701 Send change of address to: PO Box 3829 Durham, NC 27702 For advertising rates call (919) 328-8722 ROCHELLE WOODWARD Design, Row Design Studios www.RowDesignStudios.com SHARING OUR STORY There couldn’t be a better time to lead Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce! Over the past couple of years, the Chamber has virtually re-invented itself becoming a more entrepreneurial organization, driven to achieve results for both its members and its community. Despite the tough economic challenges that many businesses experienced recently, Durham has continued to thrive, boasting economic development activity that most communities don’t experience in good times. Jobs are being created and investment in our community is growing. Our membership ranks have grown. Our programming is more mission focused. Our advocacy of business needs has become stronger and has gotten louder. So what more can you expect? In the upcoming year, we intend to prioritize efforts in three key areas. First is technology. We sit in the innovation capital of the world with member companies that have led the technology revolution. We are committed this year to utilizing that technology and those members to become more efficient and mobile in our service delivery. Second is messaging and communicating. We intend to use this great technology to let the Triangle and the world know that Durham is as the place where innovation and creative talent lives, works, plays and learns. We have a phenomenal community. The Durham story is growing in stature and we intend to be much more intentional in telling it. Finally is leadership. There are key economic and community initiatives that need business leadership to help bring them to fruition. The Chamber intends to be at the front of those issues. Leading the efforts to create an environment where business and jobs can grow and prosper begins with a vision for our economic development future. Key to that future is a vibrant community that embraces opportunity - opportunity for investment, for education, for engagement. We believe it is the Chamber’s role to lead that vision. I am looking forward to building upon the great initiatives of the chairmen that have led this organization before me. With the advice and support of an active engaged Board of Directors, I am confident that we will represent the interests of our members appropriately. The good thing about Durham is that we are small enough to stay connected with each other, yet large enough to have the kind of people engaged in our community that are capable of getting things done when it matters. It is truly my honor to be representing the membership of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce during 2011. I look forward to working with all of you to share Durham’s story. Here’s to continued progress in building a worldclass community we all call home…Durham. John D. Messick, II Wachovia Bank 2011 Chairman, Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce IN THIS ISSUE 4 7 9 12 Downtown Spurs Business Chamber Membership Booms Career Expo a Success Calendar of Events VOLUME 3 ISSUE 8 DECEMBER 2010 / JANUARY 2011