![Penny Shaffer](http://www.communitynewspapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Penny-Shaffer-199x300.jpg)
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the voice of business in South Florida, has announced Penny Shaffer, market president for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, as its 2011-12 chair.
Shaffer was installed formally during the morning general session of the chamber’s 2011 Goals Conference conducted June 3 at the Hilton Miami Downtown. Shaffer succeeds Maria Alonso, senior vice president with Bank of America, who concluded her one-year term as chair.
Shaffer has been engaged actively in an array of professional organizations. She is member of the Executive Committee of the Beacon Council, secretary of the Dade Community Foundation, on the Governor’s Council of Broward Alliance, immediate past chair of the board of the Miami-Dade College Foundation and secretary of the board for the Foundation for New Education Initiatives of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
She also is a board member of the Commonwealth Institute and the United Way of Miami-Dade. In addition, she is a member of the University of Miami Dean’s Advisory Board for the School of Business as well as the International Women’s Forum and the Orange Bowl Committee.
Prior to assuming her current role at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Shaffer erved as vice president of Global Services for the Americas region at AT&T and held various positions during her 26-year career at AT&T while working in a host of national and international postings including Madrid, Spain; Dublin, Ireland, and Mexico City, Mexico.
Phillis Oeters, vice president for Government and Community Relations, Baptist Health South Florida, moves up to the chamber’s chair-elect position, and Alberto Dosal, president and CEO, Compuquip, assumes the role of first vice chair, making him the next in line behind Oeters to serve as chair of the Greater Miami Chamber.