MCC Business Directory and Resource Guide 19
“ I have been fortunate to be involved in the Madison County Chamber for almost 10 years . In looking back , the Chamber has evolved from a traditional chamber offering a place for connection opportunities and a few business events to an organization that is providing continuous support to its membership and is a huge resource to the businesses and the community it serves .
When looking toward the future and the next 10 years , I think the part the Madison County Chamber will play in the business and economic growth of the communities we serve will be huge . I think you will see our programing continue to grow ; the Chamber will become more of a voice in advocacy when it comes to initiatives that affect our membership . I also think businesses will continue to look to the Chamber for assistance and resources . I hope to see the Chamber and economic arm of Madison County come together in a common front to help us expand our business and industrial base , improve our workforce , and reenergize our retail base and downtown markets across the county .
I think the most successful chambers are the ones who dare to step out of the traditional molds . They are the ones who make changes and search for ways to improve the markets they serve . We have come a long way in 10 years , and I think the story is just getting started .”
Beverly Joyce
Publisher , Regional Executive , CNHI and The Herald Bulletin Madison County Chamber Board Chair 2022 , 2024
“ I was honored to serve on the Chamber board for 10 years ( 2008-2018 ) and first served as board chair in 2009 and 2011 . I believe the future of our Madison County Chamber of Commerce will be determined by several factors as they seek to serve the needs of the business community and their communities . I believe these factors are as follows :
1 . Demographics : I believe that an increase in population and population shifts will require new strategies to face these challenges . Included in this will be the challenge of diversity and generational changes as well as economic disparities .
2 . Workforce and education : Continued work will be required with community partners to foster supportive measures to support business growth along with strong supportive commitment to local school systems . These efforts could and would support a strong entrepreneurial climate .
3 . Social and political issues : We need to maintain engagement on these issues , but will need to maintain impartiality and will need to form strategies on policy issues that will allow the Chamber to engage in these community conversations . We need to continue to support good policy and refrain from picking and choosing winners and losers in the political environment .
4 . Continue to be the organization that the community looks to in achieving business goals of growth and diversity . This organization needs to remain a partner for economic growth with the local economic development departments in those communities that have those departments . The continued work with these entities will ensure that our Chamber will remain to play a vital role in advocacy and business growth and of course membership growth is essential to the survival of the organization .
Mike Latchaw
Executive , E & B Paving ( retired ) Madison County Chamber Board Chair , 2009 , 2011
“ In 10 years , the role of a chamber will be very different compared to the role a chamber has traditionally filled . Chambers of commerce are morphing into not only connectors of people and organizations , but more importantly , connectors of all things development , specifically data-driven development .
The information age has ushered in a new playbook by which community developers , economic developers and business development organizations are guided . The ease of access in accessing and using data means that many of the traditional functions of chambers of commerce have been rendered irrelevant at worst and less valuable at best . This means that a chamber of commerce must evolve into multi-faceted data gatherers adept at connecting people to information that has been filtered and pared down from the noise that is the sea of data around us . And , just as importantly , the data must then be condensed into relevant , actionable bits that a business owner needs to grow in the new business climate we find ourselves in .
The reinvented chambers that matter are the ones who have realized that many organizations in this space face the same challenges . Hence , they have combined forces to form larger , stronger , and further-reaching entities who each bring a piece of the puzzle to the table .
With all of those pieces under one roof , we can lay the pieces out together , in a cohesive strategy , giving us clarity . And , with clarity , we get value for our stakeholders leading to relevance and growth for both the Chamber of Commerce and most importantly , for the community at large . Not simply the business community as we used to focus on , but the community at large .
Driving education , business development , economic development and community development in cohesive ways that yield growth . And really , that growth is simply a function of providing communities that people want to live and work in coupled with environments that allow businesses to thrive in such a way that support the quality-of-life initiatives that are key indicators of future growth .
Chambers of commerce are no longer simple conveners of people . They are in fact facilitators of critical data that allow focused strategy and well-placed decisions in the face of uncertainty in an ever-changing world .”
Kris Zinszer
General Manager / Owner , Howard Webb Insurance Agency
Madison County Chamber Board Chair , 2018-2021 , 2023