Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward MageeNews.com a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
A History Making Event
The annual Magee Chamber of Commerce Banquet is actually a history-making event this year! For the first time ever, the “new” president will be a third generation Chamber of Commerce President!
Whitney Barnes Baker is the president for 2015…her dad, Robbie Barnes and granddaddy, Joe Barnes came before her!
The video gives a background on the years Joe and Robbie served as presidents. (Whitney was out of town during the taping).
Whitney has great plans for the Chamber during her term.
As President of the Magee Chamber of Commerce, I hope to focus on three major things:
Main Street
¥ It is no secret to those that live here that our Main Street Area is in great need of improvement, we have been working over the past year on several projects to try and help bring some attention and advancements to the Main Street area. I will continue to work diligently on these projects. We will be implementing a Main Street Advocacy Committee that will help to insure that the necessary steps are taken to improve the area. Main Street has always been a passion of mine and I want to do everything I can to help this part of our town thrive.
Growth and Development
¥ We have a great partner in the Simpson County Development Foundation and I hope during the course of my term we can better leverage that relationship to help insure that the City of Magee is being marketed to potential new businesses in the most positive light. I am currently serving as a member of the SCDF board and will continue to do so; this will help me to serve as a liaison between the Chamber and the S
CDF so we can work together to help our city grow. This town has so much to offer newcomers; and I hope we can find a way to communicate that we are a great and thriving city to all who may be interested in relocating to this area.
¥ In addition to working with the SCDF, we have also empowered our new Chamber Director, Mrs. Doris Adcox, to go out and solicit new members for the Chamber, the more members we have, the more effective we can be as a networking solution for our existing membership. The support from these new members as well as our curre
nt members will help us to facilitate talks, workshops, and other helpful events that can benefit, not only the small business community, but also the city as a whole.
Progress
¥ Progress can be defined in many different ways, some that I have covered above which include, improvements to Main Street, new business acquisition into the city, and growth for our town. What I also hope you will see during my term is an increased level of communication and some simplified methods to help us as a Chamber become more progressive. We are working now on a new way of communicating to our large email group that will streamline that process both internally and externally, you will also soon see some new updates to our website that will hopefully make it easier to navigate and understand. I have been doing some research and communicating with other Chambers across the state to gather some ideas for how we can improve our day-to-day operations.
The most important thing we can do as a Chamber, is serve our members to the best of our abilities and give them the tools to succeed; I hope that is something we are currently doing and can continue to do for you.
Whitney Barnes Baker
Tickets for the chamber banquet are $20 and available at the Chamber office or Chamber Board members.
The banquet is Tuesday, March 24th at the Family Life Center of First Baptist Church. Reception —6:00 pm
Dinner—6:30 pm
Guest Speaker is Delbert Hoseman
Whitney is super talented…she brings so much to the table…I am looking forward to “her” year!
Hope to see you at the banquet!
