President’s Weekly Update: January 6

Members of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce:

 

On behalf of the entire San Angelo Chamber of Commerce family, I wish you all a safe, joyous, and prosperous 2021. As a community, we came together to face unprecedented difficulties in 2020 and we achieved great things together. We view 2021 as the year of Rs… re-connection, restoration, and rebuilding. We know that with every day that passes, we are one day closer to the end of the pandemic.

 

San Angelo is postured for success in 2021. On the economic development front, we continue to see strong interest in relocation to San Angelo from top-flight companies from around the world. Some exciting announcements are coming in the near term, so stay tuned for new developments!

 

The Chamber remains committed to both educating our membership and helping to develop and grow a world-class workforce in San Angelo. In December 2020, the Chamber donated over 30 thousand dollars to support educational initiatives in advanced manufacturing, entrepreneurship, and medical technology. Strong employees build strong businesses, and the Chamber is committed to building our local workforce. Recipients include the SME Prime program that will provide training in advanced manufacturing at the area high schools, as well as Howard College so that they may procure equipment to support their medical technology training programs, and the Angelo State University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to provide basic business training for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The funds were generated through a donation made to the Chamber for the advancement of education in San Angelo.

 

In 2021, we will continue to deliver an active calendar of events and activities, all carried out in full compliance with the CDC guidelines and local regulations. To fulfill these commitments, we have shuffled up the calendar a bit. Our Annual Banquet is now scheduled to take place in March. This creates an opening in January, so we will now be hosting a membership luncheon this month. The luncheon will be held on January 19 from 11:30 am until 1 pm at the beautiful Bentwood Country Club. The theme of the luncheon is housing… an interest pertinent to us all. With the growth anticipated for San Angelo in the coming months and years, this is a very important and relevant topic. Attendees will hear from Guy Andrews from the City of San Angelo Development Corporation (COSADC), Kristen Oliver at the Home Builders Association of San Angelo, and Jim Slaughter from the San Angelo Association of REALTORS. We’ve got a great program lined up, and seating is limited capacity, so be sure to purchase your tickets online by clicking here.

 

With the new year, the Chamber welcomes a new Chairman! I am pleased to announce Shane Plymell, President and CEO of Shannon Medical Center will be taking over this month. Shane comes to us with a great deal of experience and we are looking forward to working with him and the entire Board of Directors this year. He has been and remains one of the key players who have led our community through the successful mitigation of the pandemic. The fact that we are doing much better than most certainly is not an accident.

 

I want to give a special and personal thanks to our outstanding outgoing chair, Dr. Clifton Jones. As Chamber Chairman, he led us through an executive search (one that I was particularly grateful for!) and was instrumental in delivering outstanding results for our community despite unprecedented challenges. We all owe Dr. Jones a debt of gratitude. Well done!

 

As always, we encourage you all to visit our new and improved website, www.sanangelo.org,  often as we are continually providing updates. We also appreciate you following and liking the Chamber on all social media platforms.

 

Stay safe and keep well. We deeply appreciate you all.

 

In the meantime, stay safe and keep well. We deeply appreciate you all.

 

Walt Koenig
President/CEO
San Angelo Chamber of Commerce
walt@sanangelo.org
(321) 474-1332