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Published August 9, 2022
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Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Andrew Hoan. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.

Feel free to join our Chamber Chat Champions Facebook Group to discuss this episode and to share your own experiences and tips with other Chamber Champions.

Introduction

Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

And now your host he is glad he attended the ACCE conference. He’s my dad Brandon Burton.

Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton, and it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.

Our title sponsor is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Let’s hear from Jason Mock, President and CEO of the San Marcos Area Chamber to learn how the Holman Brothers have provided value for his chamber.

Jason Mock 0:47
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Brandon Burton 1:04
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Guest Introduction

You’re joining us for another episode in our 2022 ACCE chamber the year finalist series. And for this episode, we have Andrew Hoan with us. Andrew is the president and CEO of the Portland Business Alliance, greater Portland’s Chamber of Commerce and joining the organization in 2018. With years of experience with successful business association executive leadership experience previously, Andrew served as the president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which was awarded the 2017 New York State Chamber of Commerce of the year. He’s a resident of Rose City with his wife and three children. Andrew, I’m excited to have you with me today on chamber chat podcast. Congratulations for being selected as a finalist. Why don’t you take a minute to say hello to all the chamber champions and share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little better.

Andrew Hoan 2:39
Sure. Well, thank you, Brandon. And also thank you to all the chamber champions out there who are listening and tuning in. My name is Andrew Hone, and again President CEO of the Portland Business Alliance, which is greater Portland’s Chamber of Commerce and really happy to be here with all of you today, listening in and just to give you a little bit of background for myself, I will I will admit that I am born and raised Wisconsin native. So I am a cheesehead proudly owner of the of the franchise and moved to Brooklyn, New York. When I graduated college and set up residency there worked in both homeless services in national service through AmeriCorps VISTA and then moved into politics, working for the Brooklyn Borough President and then eventually into the chamber of commerce world. And then followed my wife’s career out here to Portland, Oregon, and settled in and we’ve had our three children here and just absolutely love life in the Rose City. And really, really proud to represent the business community here in the Pacific Northwest in the flagship city of Portland, Oregon. So that’s me, and it’s good to meet all of you.

Brandon Burton 3:48
Absolutely. That’s great. I know, Oregon is a wonderful place and lots of great activities. So I’m sure you guys are enjoying the lifestyle there in Oregon. So why don’t you take a few minutes and tell us more about the Portland Business Alliance kind of this scope of the chamber? Staff budget just overall. You know, those key key indicators, I guess chambered it give us an idea and perspective before we get into our topic?

About the Portland Business Alliance

Andrew Hoan 4:18
Sure, well, we are a little bit unique and so much as we’re a three in one organization. And so that is why we are called the Portland Business Alliance. And so I’ll give you a sense of what makes up that three in one and first and foremost we are the Greater Portland Chamber of Commerce where the leading voice of business in the region. We advocate for businesses at all levels of government to support commerce, community health and the region’s overall prosperity. And we do that like a lot of other chambers by offering a variety of networking events and professional development, opportunities to connect and foster growth in our region’s business community. And number two, we manage the 213 blog I have downtown Portland. That’s the enhanced service district that’s called Downtown Portland clean, safe. And then in addition to that, our number three is we are the fiscal conduit for an organization that we call partners in diversity. And this is an affiliate of our charitable Institute, and partners in diversity works to create competitive advantage in Oregon and southwest Washington to attract and retain and develop diversity influencers, and professionals of color. So three and one three corporate identities in one organization. And we add the chamber side, which is most relevant, I think, for folks listening in have over 2100 members. And just on the chamber side alone, we have over 15 staff. But you expanded out to the enhanced service district and of course, partners and diversity, we tip the scales of 25. The combined entities this year have a proposed budget of over $11 million. So we have a significant budget, much of that is dedicated to the direct services of cleaning and maintaining and security for our downtown core, which is our obligation and contract that we have to run, enhance service district. So that’s who we are. And this is our 100 and 52nd birthday. And so we’re an old chamber. And we’ve been a lot around a long time and taking a lot of different forms and shapes. But we’re very pleased that we’re on our third and final year of a strategic plan that we launched in 20. And it was our first time that we ever did that process ever had a strategic plan since the founding of the organization. So learning new things and doing our best to be our best.

Brandon Burton 6:41
Yeah, when you said three and one these are different things and what you normally see chambers that are three in one chambers, I appreciate you going into a little bit more depth with that. And it is very different with that a scope of work. So with these chamber, the year finalist episodes, what I like to focus on is the two programs that you submitted on your chamber that your application. So we’ll we’ll dive into those programs and get into some depth with them. But what makes them work as soon as we get back from this quick break?

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All right, Andrew, we’re back. So as we dive into the programs that were on your, your chamber of the year application, what are maybe just from a high level, what are the two programs and then we can circle around into a little bit more depth?

Topic-Chamber of the Year Application Programs

Andrew Hoan 9:40
Sure. So by context, one of the most important things that we do here in the organization when we approach policy, and when we approach economic conditions is that we lean heavily on the data and the science and so each and every single year we ROI, public sentiment polling. And we commission, something that we call the regional state of the economy. So we lead with, where are the voters? And where is the economy, and that drives all of our decision making. It drives the consideration of the board. It asks the tough questions around where do we prioritize our time, and our influence. And something that’s important for listeners to be aware of that helps to contextualize the two things that we put forward is that Portland and Oregon, not not dissimilar to any other place in the nation has depth of disparity that is driven in large part by race, and also has an impact on geographic disparity with in our region. And the state of Oregon when it was admitted to the United States join on the side of the Union, but it built into its constitution, a complete exclusion of free blacks. And so oftentimes, the relationship with race and business and our region is extremely troubled because of our history, and because of the unique nature of the way that we enter the Union. And so the data pointed us in that direction. We have monumental differences in the income and the well being of black Portlanders. And that is exacerbated by region. And we are in what’s known as Multnomah County and within our county, the west side is the wealthiest part of the state. And the east side is the poorest part. And it also happens to be the most diverse. So two specific programs that we submitted for our application addressed those disparities. The disparity between East and West Multnomah County, and how we could support businesses in East County specifically, by working with our partners at the federal level, state level and county level during the darkest days of the pandemic, when the closures due to public health reasons were most significant to prop up businesses that were in desperate need of resources. And that was what we did to stand up our East County Cares Act initiative. The second was something that hearken back to the immediate days after the murder of George Floyd, which was the question our Blackboard members asked to all of us as a community, what are we doing as a business community support black prosperity in our region? And from that was born out our second proposal that we’ve included in our application, which is the black economic prosperity agenda, and the development of our public private and philanthropic effort to fund and support regional black economic prosperity for all those who live here in the region, but specifically, black Portlanders. So those are the two programs and that’s their genesis.

Brandon Burton 13:09
Wow, that it gives a good history lesson two that maybe a lot of the country is not aware of, as far as the forming of the state. And it really does cut the workout for you guys is the chamber to see that that disparity is dealt with and and to make things more equitable across the state for all the residents. So I don’t know if it makes sense to start on one of the programs to go into more depth first or not, but maybe maybe let’s start with the East County Cares Act. But I’m assuming that had to do with somewhat with the federal aid with the cares, or am I wrong thing?

Andrew Hoan 13:51
You’re absolutely right. You know, and a lot of states are given latitude around how they dispersed resources and who would be allocated what and oftentimes leaned on the private sector to be able to assist in making sure that the funds got to the right places to those most in need. And we received a call from the governor’s office and from the county asking us as the business community to stand up and deliver in under a two to three month period of time, in enormity of resources, specifically to each county, there are about four different cities that live within our county that are defined as East County municipalities. And so we were targeting these unique cities that oftentimes get left out from conversations around economic development, because they’re not quite as large as Portland, even though they’re in the same county. So we stood up and formed an incredible cross collaboration of intergovernmental agencies, philanthropy and and the business community to determine how we would disperse over a million dollars in resources to small businesses, but the focus on making sure that these were equitably distributed to prioritize businesses owned by individuals of color, and make sure that the resources were sent to Those businesses most impacted by closures, which should come as no surprise to people where restaurants and retail and healthcare establishments that face the biggest challenges from the pandemic. And if you don’t know this about the state of Oregon, we were one of the first into public health closures. And we were one of the last out of public health closures. So while we had a lot of differences in the way that states dealt with the pandemic, ours was the most aggressive from a public health standpoint. And at the end of the day, we all know that the more aggressive you were on the public health standpoint, the more damage that was wrought within the economy. Again, these were simple trade offs everyone had to make. But the reality was, we were able to save lives. But we did exceptional damage, especially to our leisure and hospitality scene. So the ability to stand up these kinds of Cares Act was a derivative of federal funds from the state. And we lead the way in establishing the criteria, the funding matrix and who would get what resources. And what I’m so proud about is that we delivered over 400 grants, ranging in size of $2,500 or more. And of those 400 grants to East County businesses, all of them were small, so very small mom and pop, typically retail brick and mortar, half of those businesses were owned by individuals of color. So this punches way above the weight of the demographics in the region. But we were able to deliver it in a three month stretch of time, in a way that was truly aboveboard, financially speaking, it was an outstandingly well propped up effort from a legal perspective. And we made sure that the resources got into the hands of those that needed it in really, what were their darkest hours. So that’s the East County Cares Act initiative.

Brandon Burton 16:50
So how did they did the county come to you and say, Andrew, we need help on dispersing this this money, or because I know, counties all over the country had federal aid given during during the pandemic, and especially with those shutdown periods to help relieve some of that burden put on the small businesses. But I don’t think every county reached out to the Chamber of Commerce to help disperse it. So how has that relationship developed? And how did that come about? Yeah,

Andrew Hoan 17:22
it was really, you know, our county has a obviously, just like a lot of other counties, their various commissioners are, the legislative side of the county government has representation by district and the representative from each county knew that there was a once in a generation opportunity to capture resources and deliver it to that part of the district or excuse me, that part of the county. So we were approached by the county to facilitate and manage the entire process because they wanted to make sure that this was done in a timely fashion. And that was done in a way that was it was communicated accessibly in multiple different languages, that was done with a level of financial acuity and sensibility that the business community brings alongside the accountability. So those were the ask to us is to make sure you lead with racial equity, but do this accountably and do this rapidly. And so to be able to stand up and get out the door, that amount of resources in such a brief amount of time, required the thing that we all love, which is public private partnership. And so that was the hallmark of the initiative, was bringing the resources and the guidance of government, pairing that with the expertise of business to get grants into the hands of businesses that would probably have had to go under, or turn off the lights if it weren’t for these resources.

Brandon Burton 18:46
Right. And I think, you know, none of us want another pandemic to happen. We don’t want to have to go through that whole mess again. But you know, if it did happen, it’s good to have those relationships in place, have those public private partnerships, have that good relationship, the seat at the table, having those conversations with your, your counties, their cities, with those in your jurisdictions to be able to be there as a support for the business community when the time when when you’re called upon? So that I think that alone is a good example of the positioning that you guys were in to be able to help execute that. Let’s, let’s shift gears over to the other programs, the black economic prosperity agenda. What did that look like? And how did you guys go about execute executing that?

Andrew Hoan 19:35
Yeah, I think yeah, I would really want to talk about how the inception. And I think like so many of us when we sat in our homes because of the pandemic and watched what was happening in Minneapolis and with the murder of George Floyd, we all we all knew that there was a time that this this felt different, right? I think it was because we were kids. Assuming news and information and the brutality of it was just so distinct, that it caused the reaction we saw around the country. And we are fortunate in our organization to have the leadership of a really thoughtful black business leaders, and from different types of companies and both as owners, and those that are multi generational family owned businesses to C suite executives at large companies. And we really turned to them and said, What, what, what what can we do? Because I think there was a lot of action immediately after across the country from the business community supporting racial justice, nonprofits and stepping into this space of supporting social justice programming. But there was a bigger question we want to answer, which is, what can the book book in the business community? What role do we have in this conversation? Not all of it, we can solve. Now, not all of it is in our lane, not all of it is in our expertise, right? Whether it’s criminal justice reform, or any of the other big issues that were brought out by the murder of George Floyd weren’t always things that are just natural areas of expertise. So what role do we play and it was decidedly presented and agreed upon to our board in collaboration with our Black Board members, that we would take a stand, and our stand would be economic, and it would be based in business. And so our board and our organization issued a statement called the invisible knee, which really harkens to the visuals that we all saw on the TV, of how George Floyd was killed. But representing that in the manner that we speak, which is akin to Adam Smith’s invisible hand and what moves the economy, and noting that for too long that the black community in this country has suffered under an invisible need that has prevented growth and shared prosperity for all of us, and specifically black Americans. And so from the invisible need came out a okay, it’s nice to say something, but what are you going to do about it? And just like any good Chamber of Commerce, we put together an action plan. And that action plan was very straightforward. It’s we need to get the data understand what are the disparities in our region between black individuals and the rest of us? And what is the strategic plan to address those disparities. And we need to resource this appropriately, and hire an individual to enact this agenda. And out of that bore a two year fundraising effort where our board of directors did for the first time ever, and all board give to be able to be the first in as an investment in establishing the resources necessary to bring that agenda to light. We then brought in city, county and state money, and philanthropic money all matched to be able to stand up this initiative, we recruited from a national search a leader to advance this agenda, who was hired just a few months ago, and is working on establishing the dashboard of economic data to help guide policy and inform policymakers about what actions they can take to close the wealth disparities between black Portlanders and the rest of the residents. And also to establish a strategic plan, actionable economic plan to close those disparities based on that data. And so that’s what that program represents. The thing that has been so rewarding about it is it was a leap of faith for our board to fund it to be the initial dollar in and that the government and philanthropic sectors matched us nearly dollar for dollar tells the story that durable change comes about in ways that are collaborative. And if it was just the business community going alone on this, it may not see a long life. But right now we have investors from all the sectors that matter to make change, both systemic and durable. And so we’re just in to the launch phase, we’re really thrilled with hiring of an executive director to lead this effort. And we know that we have the seed funds necessary to enact the agenda that our organization supported, and that has been backed by the government and philanthropic sectors. So

Brandon Burton 24:33
that imagery of the invisible knee I think is so powerful, and kind of equating it to the invisible hand like you had mentioned. Can you share maybe what a couple of those action items look like is as you go about to put this plan into action just to kind of give people an idea of how does the business community get involved with with rolling this out? Yeah, it’s

Andrew Hoan 24:57
really to look first and foremost about establishing A totally transparent open source dashboard around economic prosperity for black Portlanders. So it’s about the data first, just like every other thing, just like I had mentioned, around everything we do, is driven by data. And so right now there is a lack of understanding, from every level about what are the actual underlying data points that drive the differences. So oftentimes, you’ll see issues around racial economic disparities called out in different ways, but not in totality. So you might see out there’s a new analysis about how there are challenges amongst black communities in accessing capital, or around wage differentials or around health disparities. But there’s never a single place where all of those are aggregated into one published annually, and demonstrated around how we’re making progress in closing the disparities that exist. So the first action item is to establish this annual disparities dashboard that allows everybody to look at either the progress we are making or not making, and then knowing whether there’s a new policy or a new action that government can take, or the business community can take, what lever does it pull within that dashboard? Does it close the disparities? Or does it worsen them. And I think that part of an awareness focusing on black prosperity at the data points that underlie it, is the is the most important step we can take from awareness. Because a lot of times actions that we all take, whether we’re in policymaking roles, or government or business, we may have the intentions of closing those disparities. But if you don’t have the facts, data and science to back them up, then you don’t have really a proof point or a concept to prove that what you’re doing is the right thing. And that’s just an awareness piece. So the first action that’s been taken is to build out this dashboard. And then once you have this awareness and the underlying data, like any good business, when you’ve established what the problem is, then you develop a strategy to address it. And so born out of the dashboard, the next step will be to create a strategic plan for addressing the gaps. And they’re very simple things. But it’s what businesses do day in and day out, they identify where they they take that SWOT analysis of their own services, see where the pain points are, and they create an action plan to address them. So we’re just simply taking that good old fashioned business practice, about being driven by data being driven by the science and the economics, and then creating plans to ultimately address them. So those are the two major actions that we expect the executive director that we just resourced to be able to take.

Brandon Burton 27:51
I love how it’s all data focused data first, and to be able to see, you know, the actions you make, is it positively or negatively possibly affecting your goals and outcomes? And hopefully, you have a method of sharing and broadcasting what’s working for all those of us who who don’t have dashboards that are buttons, so that those things can start being adopted more nationwide. So I love that though. So Andrew, I wanted to ask as a chamber that you’re a finalist. I see you guys is kind of setting a benchmark of sorts. How do you view the role of your chamber within your community? I think you’ve been speaking to it on these topics. But it may be more generally, how do you how do you view your role?

Andrew Hoan 28:41
Yeah, you know, these two items we advance for application are really specific to the role of business and race. But what I think is really important, or the way that we view our role and this is more broadly is somewhat rooted in the the nature of Portland, and I’m sure it comes as no surprise a lot of people have heard about Portland more in the last two years than they probably have in their entire life. And not all of it for the right reasons. And

Brandon Burton 29:11
and I’m surprised you don’t have a head full of gray hair.

Andrew Hoan 29:15
Well, I used to, but now it’s all gone. Right? So the difference is that not a lot of people have heard from Portland. And what I think is important for listeners to understand is the political dynamic here is worlds different than anything I’ve experienced as someone who’s had the privilege of growing up in the Midwest living in the northeast and now settled here with a family and the Pacific Northwest. The receptivity to business and support of the business community in the Pacific Northwest is hard to come by the politics here are not just liberal in the way that we all would understand that word but progress Have is not even adequate to describe it. It is, you know, in a quite astonishing level of progressivism here, that just makes it challenging to work in government with government. And what is interesting from an advocacy standpoint isn’t necessarily that we’re fighting over, you know, tax breaks or incentives or a regulatory condition. It’s that the business community is here that our top priorities really tend to focus in on issues of livability. So the explosion of the unsheltered crisis that’s happened in the region, public safety, cleanliness, these things are not exactly what you would call core business issues. I mean, they’re important to everybody. So they’re not unimportant, but there’s simply not typical business issues. But what while that seems, sort of on the surface, a challenge is presented an opportunity to be collaborative with what I would call strange bedfellows for lack of a better word. So while we may look at traditional political divides as businesses over here, Labor’s over here, environments over there, in Portland, those divides don’t exist. Our partnerships, political partnerships are not just solely business community partnerships. They’re with labor, we stand side by side with the AFL CIO, we work with the environmental lobby. And the reason we do that is because the issues that we all face, are somewhat the same livability issues impact labor as they do business. And so it’s brought us together in a way that I never thought possible. And so when you ask the question, what do I view our organization’s role, it is the convener, and in the one that has done more outreach to our partners that have traditionally, or that most folks would would view as traditional opposition or opponents, or, you know, adversarial here, it’s collaborators, its partners, the individuals I rely on are, of course, my members and other business associations. But I’m really proud to stand with labor on issues. And we don’t always agree I’m not painting a rosy picture of just, everything’s perfect here. It certainly isn’t. We’ve had our challenges, but it’s also given us an opportunity as an organization to say, you know, let’s not just fit in a box, let’s take the box, throw it out and do a dance on it. And that’s what we’re doing here. And it’s pretty cool, because you learn that when you’re in crisis, you don’t always sit there and choose, you know, the issues, the times and the battles that you’d like. But it’s allowed us to really work with folks that we probably should have been working with better in the past. And we’re learning how to do it now. And I hope that it continues even when we pull out of this crisis, and we’ve recovered, and now we’re back on top of the national, you know, rankings of places to do business and where people are moving again. So that’s what I think our role is. It’s to be a convener and to really get rid of the box.

Brandon Burton 33:14
Yeah, I like that a lot. Especially I mean, you guys are in a unique situation to be in that convener and bringing everybody together for a common goal and, and driving the city forward. I wanted to ask you, if you might have any tip or action item for chamber champions listening who may want to take their chamber up to the next level? What might you offer for them?

Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions

Andrew Hoan 33:40
Yeah, he is the so I’ve had a great opportunity. When I was the head of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, we were a finalist. Back when the convention was in Savannah, I’ll never forget how hard it was. And now I’m lucky enough to lead an organization here in Portland that’s never been considered for this this award. And I didn’t win. We didn’t win the Brooklyn Chamber didn’t win back in the Savannah convention. But I can tell anyone that’s listening first app, just competing, is so much fun. Because filling out the application tells you a lot it tells you what do you want the world to know about you, it tells you Are you a champion for best practices, are you you know, breaking the ice on things that chambers have never done before and that you’re proud of and that you know, your boards proud of and your staff feels good about? And everybody has that and sometimes it’s just about asking the question, well, what is it? So for anyone listening and wants to ask the question, what do you do to get to the next level? I think it’s following The Ark of your strategic plan that has always paid dividends, and then picking something big and going in on it and not being afraid to fail. For every good idea we’ve had here in the organization, we’ve had a dozen total busts, we are well informed by failure. And that’s okay. And also allowing your staff to fail and feel supported as long as they’re trying, you know, chambers get to be innovators, because every one of the individuals and members we serve, are inherently innovative. That’s what business does and is. So innovate, be bold on at least one thing. Because if you can enjoy the work you’re doing, and frankly, whenever we do these big ideas, it’s stuff we want to do. It’s the stuff we like to do. It’s the stuff we feel calling to do. All the things I mentioned, our big programs. Everybody in the organization feels good about. It’s the good work that we do. And so have fun with it, and innovate and don’t be afraid to fail.

Brandon Burton 36:05
I think that’s great advice go big. How am I like asking everyone this question, but as we look to the future of chambers, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?

Future of Chambers

Andrew Hoan 36:19
You know, one thing that struck me this fascinating article that was published last year by the New York Times, or maybe could have been 2020. Now all the pandemic years seem like, right now she’s together.

Brandon Burton 36:31
Yeah.

Andrew Hoan 36:33
But it struck me that they identified that this one political year, I do believe it was November 2020, saw the largest turnover in municipal leadership that the country had ever seen. In other words, how many mayor’s have just simply declined to run again, for office or who had, you know, been defeated by a challenger? Because obviously, the world is not a fun place, right? There’s there was no good. No one had good choices to make. So you saw this leadership turnover at a municipal county level, I think across the nation, you just saw this incredible flux happening in government, and chambers sit at that intersection between government and business. And so when I think about what chambers present right now, is the fact that we are durable. We are not a new institution, businesses will always advocate for themselves. And so right now as society, in so many ways, phrase all around us, right, we’re seeing the common threads are the institutions that were irreproachable in the past democracy. Things are being called into question constantly. chambers are that pillar of stability. And I also think, reason and rational decision making that in this environment of inflammatory rhetoric of public discourse that has turned so toxic, and chambers can be the high road. And so if there’s a future and there’s a message we can convey, it’s the one of being back to that convener and collaborator role. While everything else falls around us. We’re still here, and we’re going to be here into the future, and we will help mend all these torn edges in society.

Brandon Burton 38:31
Right? I love that responsive chambers are durable, and that you always hear about chambers need to be relevant. But man, what can your chamber do to be durable? That is a huge takeaway for me. So I appreciate that. Andrew, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who may want to reach out and connect and learn more about how you guys are doing things. They’re in Portland, what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect with you? Sure.

Connect with Andrew Hoan

Andrew Hoan 39:01
Everyone should give me an email. I’m Andrew Hoan. And my email address is really easy. It’s ahoan@portlandalliance.com. So a hoan at Portland alliance.com. I’d love to hear from you. I also not just want to hear about questions, but I want to hear about what you’re all doing that’s innovative and exciting. And that you’re leading the way on and just wish everybody well and hope all of you are feeling like the future is a little bit brighter right now, because it’s been a rough couple of years.

Brandon Burton 39:34
That’s right. I’ll get your email in our show notes for this episode. So anybody can look it up there and reach out and connect with you. But Andrew, I appreciate you spending time with us today on chamber chat podcast guys are doing some great innovative and durable work. They’re in Portland. So I appreciate that. This has been a great conversation and best of luck to you guys is chamber the year.

Andrew Hoan 39:58
Thanks so much Brandon and take care everyone And

Brandon Burton 40:01
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