By Wayne Pathman,
Pathman Lewis, LLP Attorneys At Law
On the anniversary of my inauguration as Chairman of the Chamber, I want to share with our readers my thoughts. I believe that the Chamber has grown in many ways and is on track to become an even more important force within our community, however, in my second year we still have many things that I wish to accomplish.
In the past year, we established the Millennial Action Council, which now has almost 300 members and is fast becoming one of the most important and vital parts of our community. We also established an impressive group of business Stakeholders that have been meeting quarterly to discuss common issues that have a significant impact on the ability to conduct business in our city. We also revamped our annual Gala and had a spectacular event at Loews Miami Beach with over 900 people in attendance.
These are only a small sampling of the noteworthy achievements, none of which could have been realized without the hard work of our Board members, our outstanding Council Chairs, Co-Chairs and our members that sit on our councils, and the hardworking Chamber staff led by our President and CEO, Jerry Libbin.
In the coming year, I am excited about expanding our services to our business community and finding ways to engage them more with the Chamber. Thanks to a recommendation from our Reimagining the Chamber Task Force, Chaired by Aaron Tandy, the Chamber has just hired a new member of the staff, Gabriel Marques as a membership concierge. Her job is to perform outreach to members and to connect them with one another as well as to find out how the Chamber can assist them in making contact and introductions to drive more business their way.
I am also very excited to continue working alongside Robin Jacobs, who was recently elected to our Board of Governors as the Chair-Elect of the Chamber. Robin is currently a Vice Chair as well, and is heading up an exciting new project that I expect will become a major city-wide annual event that will elevate the Chamber yet again. This project will bring together the diverse cultures in our community by providing each nationality the opportunity to showcase the best of their art, music, culture, food, tourism, and technology. Think Epcot!
I have enjoyed meeting so many of our members and working with the many volunteers that serve so passionately on our Board and our councils and I am looking forward to my second year as Chairman and finding, even more, ways to integrate our Chamber into the fabric of our community.
Best,
Wayne Pathman
Chamber Chairman
