Our 5th interview in our 2020 ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist Series is with Kate Teel from the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce in North Carolina. In the interview the main areas that we covered were the highlights of their synopsis that were submitted with their Chamber of the Year application, what makes the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber stand out, their plans on how to lead through the recovery from COVID-19, and words of advice for other Chamber Champions to improve their own Chamber.
Kate covered two highlights from their Chamber of the Year synopsis. The first program that she addressed was their Grow Local workforce development campaign. Grow Local started with the goal to introduce, include, and involve the youth in their community. Initially they started with a target of 800-1000 students to participate and that number grew to 2,734. The program also involved over 100 businesses who participated in the 5 days of events. The second program that she highlighted was around catalytic leadership between industry an education. The Greenville-Pitt County Chamber took 32 community leaders on an intercity trip to Greenville and Spartanburg, SC. This intercity trip sparked a public/private partnership called Greenville ENC Alliance that would create hundreds of new jobs in the community.
When Kate talked about what makes the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber stand out, she mentioned that they have ever-evolving community leadership. She also shared a fun fact that the Chamber is located in the Fleming House which belonged to the late Senator, James Fleming who helped to establish East Carolina Teachers’ Training School which later became what is known today as East Carolina University.
The Greenville-Pitt County Chamber plans to lead through the recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19 by contacting every business member to triage their needs. From there, the focus will shift to recovery in both the private and public sector. The Chamber will be the go-to source for information and will be proactive about sharing information. One of the most important things that the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber will do is they will focus on the Chamber to be sure they are sustainable so they can continue to be a support and advocate for their business community well into the future.
As Kate shared her piece of advice for the Chamber Champions listening, she issued the challenge that if someone gives you a challenge, to see to it! Accept that challenge and overcome it.
If you would like to connect with Kate, she can be reached below:
Phone: 252-752-4101 x2228
Email: kate@greenvillenc.org
Website: greenvillenc.org
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