The Georgia Chamber of Commerce held one of its Regional Power events in partnership with the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Sept. 10, at the Rainwater Conference Center. 

The breakfast forum featured Georgia Chamber President and CEO Chris Clark, who presented the Chamber’s one hundred year history through a video documentary. Though the Georgia Chamber has had several name changes in the past century, it is still focused on being the state’s leading advocate for businesses.  

Clark said the Georgia Chamber has remained consistent in bringing people together at the local, state, and national level to help solve problems, staying focused on its mission, and continuing to look ahead and identifying issues to be addressed.  

He outlined three areas that the Georgia Chamber will continue to address in the coming years: healthcare, education, and community engagement. 

 “If you don’t have quality healthcare in your community I can’t recruit a business there, I can’t keep a company there, and I can’t get a company to startup in that community,” Clark said. “There is a disconnect. We have a huge problem in Georgia with hospital closures, and with what the federal government is doing with healthcare, and we have to find a solution.”

Clark applauded Georgia’s higher education system and its importance in long-term economic success. 

“We have to look at how to improve K-12 education,” Clark said. “When I started in economic development years ago, it was enough to tell a company that when you set up shop and open up we will have the workers ready for you to go to work. That was enough for them, but now when we talk to companies they are asking, ‘I know you can do this, but what about 30 years from now?’ They want to know if they [students] have the STEM and soft skills ready to go when they are ready. They are not making a 10-year investment; they are making a 50-year investment.”

Clark emphasized that 100 years ago it was the community leaders and their engagement that helped form the Georgia Chamber. 

 “One hundred years ago it was because your senators and representatives got engaged that I am even standing here today,” said Clark. “You have to be involved in your Chamber; you have to be ambassadors for them and be involved with us. Be supportive of your legislators and be involved in the political process.” 

According to its website, the Georgia Chamber stands as “the voice of its statewide membership, aggressively advocates the business viewpoint in the shaping of public policy, encouraging ethical business practices and ensuring the state’s future as economically prosperous, educationally competitive, and environmentally responsible.” 

For more information regarding the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, visit its website at http://www.gachamber.com/ or call 404-223-2264.