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The turn of a new year is often time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. It is a blank slate and a chance to lay the groundwork for what’s next. Your Chamber is always asking the question “how can we be better for our community?”
With that in mind, the Chamber is excited to announce a new partnership with Alliance Publishing Group of Birmingham in the production of our 2020 Community Guide and Membership Directory, which will publish in June of 2020.
A year ago, I heard John Joseph in a speech make the observation that Decatur-Morgan County may be in the middle of a rebirth and we don’t even realize it. In a recent conversation, John agreed that today we can say for sure that we are in the middle of the emergence of our area as one of the South’s most vibrant communities.
This is an exciting time to call Decatur home.
On Jan. 25, at the Chamber’s State of Healthcare Address, I was excited to share with the community news about Huntsville Hospital Health System investing an additional $20 million for capital improvement projects at the Decatur Campus. The announcement came on the heels of the hospital’s first strategic plan, about which I’m incredibly excited. Let me tell you why.
At the end of the day, we all want to belong.
When I came to Decatur from Natchez, Miss., in 1991 to become president of this Chamber, my wife and I quickly became connected to the community. I met elected officials with whom I’d be working with on public policy issues. I connected with business owners and entrepreneurs who were innovative in their craft and creating something new you couldn’t find anywhere else. I met with education leaders about connecting the business community and students to prepare the next generation workforce. We all shared stories about what motivated us in the work we did and what we valued at the end of the day.
In April, I was honored to be handed the gavel to serve as Chairman of the Board for the Decatur-Morgan Chamber of Commerce for the next year. As I addressed the crowd of 230-plus Chamber members at our Annual Meeting, my main topic of emphasis was asking this question: “who are your Champions?”
