We join with many organizations throughout Utah and across the county in recognition and celebration of the 45^th Anniversary of Black History Month.  Last week we featured Dr. Carter C. Woodson on our weekly communication.  He is credited as the individual who created Negro History Week in Washington DC in 1926.  You can learn more about him at:  https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/knowing-past-opens-door-future-continuing-importance-black-history-month .
 
Over the past couple of weeks, many of our business and civic leaders have been actively engaged in many strong ChamberWest programs as in leadership roles, they execute on the mission of the chamber.  Today, I thought I would share more of the work of the chamber through these strong member leaders. 
 
The Board of Directors and Board of Governors welcome Rick Clasby with the Utah Trucking Association as the new Chair of the Board with Julie Cluff, Build a Life After Loss and the Joint Chiropractic now serving as Vice Chair.  Many thanks to Jordan Larson with Varex Imaging for his great leadership over the past two years!
 
The Leadership Institute Board of Trustees, led by Ryan D. Nelson with the Employers Council, has completed two of the ten Leadership Institute Sessions, the first the overnight kickoff event which was heavily supported by Franklin Covey and was successfully held in person.  The second session “Leadership Through Legislation and Policy” was held via Zoom with a joint meeting with the CW Legislative Affairs Committee, interactions with legislators, lobbyists, and the new Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and more. 
 
The Legislative Affairs Committee, led by Bryan Scott with City Journals and Kory Holdaway with KMH Consulting & Government Affairs, along with nine subcommittee chairs and between 40-50 of the 100+ committee members, have been meeting twice weekly since January 25^th and will continue this meeting cadence through the first week of March.  They are diligently working on behalf of our many members to identify and research legislation impacting businesses in our community and communicating with our legislators.  You can review the bill tracker through a link on our website www.chamberwest.com.
 
Our new Professional Development Series Committee, led by Steve Pluim with TalentTeam, has been meeting over the past few weeks to finalize the 2021 series presenters for February, April, June, August, and November.  They will also also oversee the new Small Business Series with six session planned directly of interest to small business owners and to entrepreneurs interested in a new business. 
 
The Women in Business Committee, led by Becky Ivory with Becky Ivory-Professional Speaker, Coach & Trainer and Trish Hull, Salt Lake County Library – Kearns Branch, along with chairs of several subcommittees have a strong program planned for 2021.  The program includes a WIB Professional Growth Series, the April 13^th Spring Conference, the May 11^th Women’s Golf Clinic and more. 
 
The Ambassadors Committee, led by Mitch Ross with Express Recovery Services and Wendy Buckner with Cyprus Credit continue to meet monthly to collaborate on membership connections, to plan the bi-monthly Business Connections event, and to coordinate the welcome of new and renewing members.
 
With the Annual Awards Gala scheduled for June 15^th, the Gala Committee, led by Julie Cluff with Build a Life After Loss and The Joint Chiropractic, has started meeting to plan another exciting event of celebration of business for our members.  The Annual Awards Committee will start meeting soon so and will soon push out a call for award nominees.
 
Other committees and boards that will be meeting or are continuing to meet include the Board of Governors, Board of Directors, Annual Golf Classic Committee, Travel and Tourism Committee, Job Fair Committee, and more.  If you have interest in serving on a committee, please feel free to reach out to me to explore where your participation would be of greatest benefit. 
 
Upcoming programs of interest include:
 
Tuesday, February 16^th  – 12:00 noon – CW Professional Development Series - Update From Washington DC and Q&A with U.S. Senator Mike Lee.   Register today at:  https://chamberwest.com/events/details/chamberwest-professional-development-series-1397?calendarMonth=2021-02-01.  
 
Tuesday, March 9^th – 12:00 noon – Women in Business Professional Growth Series.  Hear from President Deneece G. Huftalin, PhD, President of Salt Lake Community College, on what gets in the way of women stepping into leadership roles.  Register at:  https://chamberwest.com/events/details/women-in-business-professional-growth-series-1398?calendarMonth=2021-03-01
 
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need any assistance.  Hope you have a great day and week!
 
Barbara
Barbara S. Riddle, CMP
President/CEO
801-540-6312
www.ChamberWest.com