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I have the honor of being the 43rd Chairperson of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce as we begin the next 100 years as a vibrant, impactful organization. As we look towards the future which continues to look bright for our community, it is also appropriate to take a moment to recall our past.
One hundred years ago, in June 1921, a group of exceptional and excited business leaders looked around Miami Beach and saw more than palm trees, mango groves, avocados and sand, and founded the Chamber. They saw more than an area locally known as “Alton Beach” which was then-used mostly for day trips from the mainland, without many permanent structures. (In fact, the first hotel, the Brown Hotel, still standing at 112 Ocean Drive, was only built in 1915.)
Rather than just think locally, the first Chamber Board believed that Miami Beach could be developed into the pre-eminent beach resort area for the United States. That Board was optimistic that their community had something wonderful to offer visitors and residents that could not be found anywhere else and it only required some effort and promotion to expand the horizon and impact of the Beach. Towards that end, in September 1921, the Chamber selected the flamingo against a blue sky background as the emblem for the Chamber because at the time the Beach was “the only place in the United States where these beautiful colored and rare American birds can be seen” year-round. [The Miami News, Tue. Sept. 13, 1921 “Flamingo Is To Be The Emblem Of Beach.]
The early Board spearheaded transformative projects designed to improve the Beach, including sponsoring and leading the effort to light the causeway between Miami Beach and the mainland, and attract both visitors and new residences by paying to erect billboards on the mainland promoting the Beach for tourism and year-round living. That first Board established the groundwork for an organization that over the next hundred years would be an integral part of all major developments in our town, from establish
ment of banks, hospitals, new businesses (including the first cinema in South Florida), attracting world-famous talent in the arts, all of which transformed reclaimed farmland into a world-renowned place people traveled to become part of.
That spirit of encouraging entrepreneurship and development while improving the community remains part of the fabric of the Chamber and its mission to promote the economic well-being of Miami Beach’s citizens, to improve the quality of life, to participate actively in important and transformative initiatives and to communicate the view of the business community on major issues of public policy.
I am excited to lead this organization into its next century to tackle the challenges on the horizon and to follow in the legacy of other chamber leaders like Baron deHirsch Meyer (one of the founders of Mt. Sinai), Shepard Broad, Tony Noboa, Joy Malokoff, Bart and Michael Goldberg, my law partner Wayne Pathman, and of course our most recent leader, the incomparable Robin Jacobs. Thank you for the opportunity to partner with all our members and community leaders to improve and promote Miami Beach now and into the future.
And I promise that I will not strive to be the longest serving Chairperson, who, much to Michael Goldberg’s surprise is not himself, but the first chair Thomas Pancoast who served for twenty years.
Best,
Aaron Tandy
Chair of the Board
Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce
