Future Ready with Christy Gillenwater

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

Episode 60 — Future Ready with Christy Gillenwater
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Christy Gillenwater
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.842 Brandon Burton
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.
00:11.758 Christy Gillenwater
And now your host, he met his wife at a high school prom. He's my dad, Brandon Burton.
00:23.148 Brandon Burton
Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. This is episode 60, and I'm Brandon Burton, and it is my goal to introduce you to people and ideas so you can better serve your chamber members and your community. Our guest this week is Christy Gillenwater, who's the president and CEO of the Chattanooga Chamber in Tennessee. Under Christy's leadership, the Chattanooga Chamber Collaborated with community partner organizations and leaders to superhead the Velocity 2040 Community Visioning Initiative. Velocity 2040 involved collecting community input from more than 4,800 area residents to inform the Chattanooga Climb's five-year talent and economic development plan. This plan benchmarks Chattanooga and Hamilton County against other communities to move towards their Velocity 2040 vision. Christy was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in public affairs from Indiana University and a Masters of Business Administration from Ball State University. In 2012, Christy was named a certified chamber executive. Christy has led two other chambers as president and CEO: the Southwest Indiana Chamber and the Greater Bloomington Chamber, where she led them to win the National Chamber of the Year. By the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, as well as the Indiana Chamber of the Year by the Indiana Chamber Executive Association. In 2017, the Indiana Chamber Executive Association recognized her as Executive of the Year. Christy is a graduate from Institute of Organizational Management, Economic Development Institute, Indiana Economic Development Academy, and Richard G. Luger Excellence in Public Service Series. Christy is involved in several organizations in the following roles. She's part of the executive committee for the American Chamber of Commerce Executives Board of Directors, and Chattanooga 2.0. She's also a member of ACCE Board of Directors, US Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100, Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy National Advisory Council.
02:42.36 Brandon Burton
Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors, Principal Leadership Academy Board of Directors, Thrive Regional Partnership Board of Trustees. Christy and her husband Brad have four children: Jordan, Blake, Thomas, and Joshua. As Christy's with us today, we're going to be talking about having a future-ready chamber, being prepared for the future as a chamber. And we're excited to get into this discussion today, which we'll dive into as soon as we get back from hearing from our sponsor. Every chamber is looking for new ways to increase their non-dues revenue. Has your chamber found a good affinity program? I have a great affinity program to offer your chamber that will continue to increase in revenue year after year. I want to introduce you to Swipe It for all of your credit card processing needs. Swipe It has a unique affinity program that 1. Lowers your credit card processing fees at the chamber, 2, Helps your chamber members be more profitable, and three, provides recurring nondues revenue to your chamber. To learn more, please visit chamberchapodcast.com slash CC for credit card. Again chamberchappodcast.com slash C C and get swiping with swipe it. All right, Christy, we are back. Thank you for joining us today here on Chamber Chat Podcast. Could you please just take a moment and say hello to the audience and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
04:22.294 Christy Gillenwater
All right, sounds great. Well, Brandon, first of all, thanks so much for having me today. And hello to all of my chamber friends out there, all of our friends in the industry. I'll tell you, we are constantly inspired by the brilliant work being conducted every day by so many chambers and chamber leaders throughout the country. So thank you for inspiring our work. I will tell you something interesting about me. I actually I'm fighting a cold right now, so I apologize for my voice, but I started off in this industry as an intern when I was at Indiana University when my father, who know me knew me so well, suggested I walk down the street and offer to intern at the Bloomington Economic Development Partnership and the Chamber there. And that ignited just a real passion for communities and a passion for the amazing work that chambers conduct throughout this country. So that's something unique. I know there are a few others out there in our industry like me who also started out as interns and really never looked back.
05:27.81 Brandon Burton
That is awesome. I know for a lot of chamber presents, it kind of happens by accident. You just kind of stumble into it. But this seems like it was a bit more intentional starting as an intern, learning the business and falling in love with it. so I am curious, what was your father's background for him to think, you know, having you go intern at the economic development?
05:48.558 Christy Gillenwater
Great question, Brandon. So I lost my daddy nine years ago and been so tough as a daddy's girl. But he actually at the time was president of a company and he was conducting the site selection work. They were expanding throughout the country. They were a pavement maintenance company. And so he was interfacing with economic development leaders in different pockets of the country. And as he interfaced with them and they drove him around the community, you know, sold the community, told them about the data around the community and how they would partner with his company, he he just saw that as a great opportunity and alignment for my skill set. And again, he he knew me best. And I'm forever grateful for his vision there.
06:35.732 Brandon Burton
Yeah, that's great. Not everybody has that opportunity to make those connections on that level. So you were blessed from the beginning with that. That's for sure. So please share with us a little bit about the Chattanooga chamber. Kind of size, location, budget, just some of those indicators so we can all relate a little bit better to the perspective that you bring to our discussion today.
06:44.301 Christy Gillenwater
Right.
06:59.608 Christy Gillenwater
Sure, Brendan. And I and that is always important. You know, I've I've run I started out at twenty-two running a really small chamber and then you know, growing to Bloomington Evansville and then here. But but I think even whether you're a smaller chamber than us or larger, we can all learn from one another, right? And so I've made a career of R and D robbing and duplicating off of so many others who have conducted, like I said earlier, brilliant work throughout the country. But but for context. we we service our county. We are the only chamber in our county. We also have a regional footprint, the Greater Chattanooga Economic Partnership, which serves a 16 county, three state area. So I'll kind of tackle both. So in our county, we have a population of 362,000. We're growing f regular relatively rapidly. Chattanooga itself is right at 180,000. We as a chamber. If you it depends, you know, everyone kind of counts their members differently. If you count individual members, you know, we're right at about 1800. If you c count their sister organizations and sometimes multiple locations, we're around 2200. We have a staff just over 40 and a budget of 7 million. Now we have a 501 C6 side and C three side plus the regional partnerships. So On the C6 side, we conduct our membership work, an engage public policy component, which actually we've really just been building over the last two years since I've been here. Really taking that to a new level, being full-time at the state house, being very active locally. And then we have 11 geographic councils. So, like I said, we are the only chamber in our county. And we have 11 geographic councils that are fantastic with their own boards. We have 170 board members on those geographic councils. They conduct events, they have monthly meetings, they engage with the schools in their footprint. And then we also have an international business council we run through our C6 side. Now on our foundation, the Chad Nooga Chamber Foundation side, we run all of our economic development efforts, our talent development, talent recruitment, and talent retention initiatives.
09:20.578 Christy Gillenwater
That includes leadership programs. That includes our diversity, equity, and inclusion work. And then also we run, I believe, the country's third largest physical incubator. We have around 127,000 square feet, five staff over there, nearly 60 companies. And that is through our again, our startup called the Business Incubator. It's physically called the BDC. The Business Development Center in collaboration with our county, our county mayor actually, county, owned the building and then we operate it. So it's a great program. And then as I mentioned, Brandon, we also have the 16 County Greater Chattanooga Economic Partnership that we staff. And so that's you know, 1.1 million from a population standpoint, it's about a $33 billion economy among those 16 counties and three different states. Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. And you know, from an industry standpoint, we're very solid in manufacturing, transportation, logistics, flooring, healthcare. Unemployment like much of the country has been a challenge. You know, we're hovering around that three percent, but our our region is really seeing a a lot of growth and it's an exciting time. We're juxtaposed between Nashville and Atlanta, just under right around two hours from each one of those, right in between those two cities. And so as they are growing tremendously, we are as well.
10:56.854 Brandon Burton
Very good. Well that's that gives a really good snapshot of what the Chattanooga Chamber is trying to accomplish and and what all you have going on. And I love the point that you made about how we can all learn something from each other. And you know, I I have a hard time thinking of any other industry. Where somebody would willingly come on a podcast and say, Here's how we do things. Now take it and go copy it and apply it yourself, you know. But the the chamber world is something very unique like that, where everybody is willing to help and provide the tools and resources out there that they use. And even for a smaller chamber that is listening, to be able to they might listen to some of the things that you have going on and think, well, if I had a staff of forty, I could do that too, or whatever it may be. But Throughout our discussion today, I'm hoping that some of these things will resonate even with these smaller chambers where they can say, you know, maybe I don't have a staff of 40 or that kind of budget or that those kind of members to be able to leverage and work with. But you know, I just that sparked an idea for me what I can do in my community with the resources that I have and be able to grow and develop. So that's kind of the goal and the target direction that we'd like to go. So with our discussion today, I'd kind of introduce the topic that we'll be talking about as being future ready. So I know that's a big discussion in the the chamber industry is how do we prepare for the future? How do we stay relevant? And that's a question that I ask everyone that I have on this podcast at the at the end of the interview. And I'll ask you the question directly at the end, but I ask the question about how do we as we look to the future of chambers, how do you see it? and and the role that chambers have going into the future. So I think you'll probably answer some of that question in our discussion today, but when we talk about being future ready, what is the Chattanooga Chamber doing to prepare for the future?
12:56.354 Christy Gillenwater
That's a that's a great question, Brandon, and and one that again we can all learn from one another. I know when I w again was with smaller chambers, I'd always look to larger chambers, chambers of similar size and even smaller, for inspiration. And there's so many brilliant conversations happening right now within ACCE circles and throughout state associations, et cetera, the US chamber, you know, around continuing to inform us as chamber leaders around what we should be thinking about. And it and much like you know how our cities have changed, I mean, gone are the days where you know, talent wasn't that that much of the subject matter. And economic development today, that's the leading discussion item is tell us the composition of your workforce and give us very detailed information around talent pipeline initiatives, numbers, you know, specific pathway. programs that you just didn't see you know 10 years ago. And so whether your chamber has economic development function or not, you know, your awareness of that is really key as as you know an enabler of community prosperity. And so I think continuing to stay on the forefront of what is driving economic prosperity. We like to think of it as economic prosperity for all in our community. You know, I think it's paramount. And so What we're doing right now, Brandon, we've been inspired by a lot of work. As I talked about earlier, we loved R D and I've been really fascinated with Omaha's work around Prosper Omaha, and that really inspired our work. And I've had a lot of conversations with David there. that led to our Velocity 2040 work because we knew As we developed a five-year strategic plan for our community, we really needed a better understanding of where people wanted to go over the next 20 years. You know, what level of growth did they want? What was top of mind of concern? So we actually were blessed to hire Rebecca Ryan to come in and of course she's well known in our industry, trained futurists, and had her conduct three really engaging sessions with around 250 key stakeholders.
15:11.126 Christy Gillenwater
We ended up then serving nearly 5,000 people and we had people participate in every zip code. We partnered with United Way, Urban League, the city, the county, you know, a number of private organizations, foundations. And it was just a wonderful process. And and when we even broke it down into the zip codes, what top five things concerned people? Actually we asked top three things concerned them over the next 20 years. And then we asked what what three things should we do first. There was a great consistency. And number one is they were concerned that good jobs and good schools aren't available to everyone. And then when we asked what we should do first, they said make sure every student has what they need to learn. And then the other the three after that were all focused around workforce, making sure you know our our underskilled population has access to good jobs, making sure that they're trained in jobs for the future. So there was a real intentionality around, I think, neighbors and making sure their neighbors were successful as well. And that really led us then to Chattanooga Climbs, which is our five-year plan around our Chattanooga Chamber Foundation. that we've now gone out and raised $50 million, so three million a year. We're just under, we're so close to that bold goal. right, right coming in on that that bold goal for the next five years. And Chattanooga Climb is based on To your point, Brandon, first of all, future ready, making sure that our people have the skills for the new economy. Second, mobility for all, making sure every resident is thriving, and that's really jobs for all. So our economic development efforts. Three is gig city wins, you know, making sure entrepreneurs lead the way, and then all over that inclusive economy with collaborative leaders. And we feel that that's really bringing our part of Velocity 2040 to life, and that's the the thriving part, ensuring all parts of our community are thriving. There were some other key outcomes of Velocity too around education, around collaboration, around leadership. And so we think we bring a number of those components of Velocity 2040 to life, but we also are relying on other partner organizations and candidly every person in our community to bring Velocity 2040 and Chattanooga Climbs to life. And
17:28.0 Christy Gillenwater
Every time I have the chance to speak to groups or to individuals here in Hamilton County and Chattanooga, I talk about, you know, everyone's role in building our economy. And I would say it's the same everywhere in the US. It's, you know, welcoming a new neighbor to your neighborhood. It's welcoming coworkers into your workplace, you know, inviting them to lunch. It's growing your organization, right? It's promoting your community on social media or to friends or family who are. debating moving back there or moving there for the first time. So everyone in the community is empowered to be a part of Chattanooga Climbs and Vaucity 2040. And that's something we've been very intentional about. And to me, I think that is a a key component for economies of the future is really engaging more of the population and the economic prosperity for the entire community.
18:21.848 Brandon Burton
I love that as you found out this information that everyone was so interested in their neighbors and the surrounding communities being successful too. And I I would imagine that across the country that we could probably find a similar thing in in other communities too, that they want their neighbors and and neighboring communities to be able to be successful and be able to promote business amongst each other. But I would I would encourage any chambers listening to do that research in your own community as well and see that see if that feedback is the same for you before you go and implement anything, of course. But can you just maybe touch a little more detail on these different areas? You talked about mobility for all over education, gig city and inclusivity. maybe starting with mobility for all, what are you guys doing on that front as far as education and having that be a focus? Cause I I know education and and even workforce and talent development is a huge topic right now for chambers across the country. So I'd I'd like to hear what you guys are doing individually and maybe see how that compares to what other some other chambers are doing and maybe spark some ideas for people listening.
19:36.462 Christy Gillenwater
Sure, Brennan. Happy to. And and for further context on our Chinese climb strategy, we engaged with Avalanche Consulting Group, but it's something chambers can do on their own as well. We had a number, we had a 60-person steering committee. We had 800 people, actually, yes, 800 people contributing 900 hours to building this plan. So again, it was a very intentional plan. We had church groups, we had neighborhood groups, we had, you know, a plethora of business partners engaged in building this plan, something that again we could all own. And Future Ready really came out as the leading component of it, which was a switch for us because typically it's mobility for all, which is jobs for all. And so they're really intertwined, I guess is what I'm trying to say as you mentioned mobility for all and future ready. They're they're so intertwined for us So, in order to create mobility for all, and that's really again the economic development portion of what we're doing, you know, we need to also focus on the future part. But under mobility for all, we have a real intentionality around what our target sectors are, and we were thoughtful around those target sectors. Are those tar target sectors scalable? Do they create economic opportunities for Certain population groups within Chattanooga and Hamilton County who haven't had access to great jobs in the past. You know, we always like to talk about healthcare. I mean, healthcare jobs, you know, many communities on this podcast today have hospitals, right? You have primary healthcare organizations. You know, those jobs are located throughout communities. They often have a lot of opportunities for. Scale for economic mobility for different community members. And that intentionality to build sectors like that, we think really makes a difference. You know, one of our recent success, we had a company, actually a Japanese paint company, come in and they located in our inner city where people can walk to jobs, they can bicycle to their job. And you know, being intentional about that. So not only the industry sector.
21:49.656 Christy Gillenwater
but also thinking intentionally around where you have open land, where you're trying to recruit companies to, you know, as transportation can be challenging for folks. So it's it's so so related to one another. But but again thinking about intentionally what our target sectors are, thinking about where we locate jobs. that was a lot of our focus. And and candidly in Chinookan Hamilton County, You know, we have we are running out of land to some degree. and so really doing a lot of deep research around that and then leaning on our partners in the region who can really pull into that economic success. And that's why you know one of the reasons I think our region functions so h well as a cohesive group is we all understand the assets we bring to the greater region and and we work collaboratively together. So So again, mobility for all, you know, your your economic development efforts, but really taking them to the next level. And then you mentioned future ready as well, Brandon. And that for us is all around making sure our people have the skills necessarily for necessary for the future economy. And we're concerned about and excited about AI, right? As so many folks. you know, when you think about it and the impact it's going to have on your workforce. We're trying to make sure that we have the right talent pipelines, you know, to to really align with jobs for the future. And we're starting that work in the eighth grade with you know, youth science being conducted in our eighth grades. And then we have get future ready programming where students then have access to understand jobs here in the community. They then make a more informed decision around which future ready institute they want to join. In the ninth grade, and we're finding in our public education system, one four one third of the students are choosing a future ready institute. And those are 28 different institutes housed within our high schools that are focused on different industry sectors. So whether it's construction trades, whether it's healthcare, whether it's software and IT, and the business community is really coming alongside the school system and developing internship programs, accreditation.
24:07.794 Christy Gillenwater
you know, curriculum development, et cetera. And it's been a an amazing partnership. I know we have over, I think pushing 170 volunteers, you know, helping within that that creation of this Future Ready Institute. So and then when it comes to the two year colleges, you know, making sure that there's better alignment and we're we're helping to convene discussions, particularly for smaller companies who may not You have the numbers to talk around, you know, program development at our two-year colleges or our four-year colleges, that we're helping to convene those conversations around industry sectors or occupational sectors around what the demands are. Because we found through our Chattanooga Climbs work that we have some real, you know, challenges in that space in terms of what we're projected to produce over the next five years versus what our members will demand, what our economy will demand. And so having those. candid conversations, but coming alongside our higher ed, our K-12 partners and saying, what do we need to do differently as a business community to better assist you and and strengthening this talent pipeline. And so under Future Ready, we have, you know, high school graduation rates is one of our, you know, one of our metrics that we want our investors to hold us accountable to. Well, we're not in charge of that, but we, you know, need to come alongside and showcase to people how we're so interconnected. We do have apprenticeship participation, internship programs, you know, not only the number of employers participating, but also the number of students participating as some of our metrics. You know, we think that's important. We have the number of volunteers assisting with future ready institutes as a metric, degree completion rates, you know, it's those kind of metrics that we want to be held accountable to over the next five years. And so to really drive our economy to the next level.
25:56.326 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. I mean it's so integrated all of it. The education workforce and and I love that you're setting some of those benchmarks to what the outcome is at the schools. And like you said, even though there's not a you don't have a direct what's the word, I guess outcome responsibility for those graduates, but you are being influential in in seeing some of those programs and inspiring some of these youth to be able to to find those future ready jobs and career paths that they want to explore. can you touch a little bit about being a gig city? What why is that important for being future ready there in Chattanooga?
26:39.726 Christy Gillenwater
Sure, Brandon. And again, it goes back to collaboration and how we're so interconnected and our success is so reliant on other partners. And Gig City was a brand that really started, you know, over a decade ago here in Chattanooga when EPB launched gig internet service. And to this day we have some of the fastest internet in the country, and it's really helped land and and spur a very strong entrepreneurial, innovative economy here. And so we have really aggressive numbers around, you know, startup relocations, to VC and angel capital investments over the next five years, to, you know, who we want to see in our business incubator, you know, having more companies come into our incubator, tracking that in a more intentional way and, you know, trying to see more startups that align with back to my mention earlier around our target sectors. You know, logistics is a real strong space for us and number of other sectors. but again, working with other partners in our community like Colab, our enterprise center, and just ensuring that we have as cohesive as an entrepreneurial and gig city ecosystem as we can. But again, that broadband infrastructure is so critical to that. And encourage all chambers out there to push as much as you can for the strongest broadband service you can have. It really it impacts, you know, starting at very early ages on up through the chain.
28:16.782 Brandon Burton
having that technology and infrastructure that way is so important to be and able to have that economic growth and and stability in your community. I find it interesting that in a a five year kind of outlook or plan like this to to have something technology based, you know, with how quickly technology changes and everything, but having that connectivity is so important today and it will be important in the future as well. is there any kind of leeway or flexibility as you guys look into the future, you know, three years down the road, if maybe five G takes off to where that is more of a standard than having the the broadband, you know, wired kind of technology is I'm just curious what kind of ability there is to pivot if you need to.
29:08.834 Christy Gillenwater
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And in fact, we have 10 gigs in in our city as well, 10 gig access. And so EPB just continues to, you know, push the needle and provide the best infrastructure they can for us. And so for us to be able to have you know 10 gig internet service and be able to promote that is you know continues to be a game changer for us. So but I would say no matter where you are on the spectrum and your economy. You know, just continuing to encourage broadband, whether you're in a more rural setting or an urban setting, you know, working with those providers and encouraging that continual investment and and broadband gig service for your community, it does impact. And when you think about gig workers, you know, we've we've had a number of tremendous, you know, lists over the last five years for Chattanooga. And one is, you know, top place for gig workers. And it's that has led us to actually secure some company expansions. In fact, we just announced one not too long ago, Vigot, when they had an employee who was a gig worker here who, as he acclimated more to the city and connected more, thought this would be a great location for an expansion for our company. And long story short, you know, that's what happened. He met one of our board members who then introduced us to their CEO. And so You know, just those, you know, that kind of strategy that candidly, you know, ten years ago, we weren't necessarily thinking about. And so that opportunity to secure gig workers, of course, our outdoor we're so well known for our outdoor activities here from rock climbing to bouldering to engaging in our river and our our lakes. We have amazing opportunities for outdoor recreation. And so it draws a certain segment of the population. And so you're thinking about how how those assets of your community that maybe before were seen as a visitors bureau play, now can also be an economic development play for your economy.
31:15.692 Brandon Burton
Very good. I see how that can open up doors for sure in your economy there in your community. So I know we're we're getting a little bit short on time, but I wanted to give you an opportunity if you wanted to touch a little bit more on having the inclusive economy and the collaborative leadership. and see what what you might want to expand on there.
31:37.326 Christy Gillenwater
Sure, Brandon. And diversity, equity, inclusion work is so important. And again, a lot of chambers are doing great work in this space, many through their chamber foundations. I know there's been a lot of discussion within ACCE networks around you know encouraging more chambers to consider a chamber foundation, because it is a new way for companies to contribute to your organization and really further diversity, equity, inclusion work. And that's around You know, being really intentional within your business community and your larger community about being a place that you know all people feel welcome in, you know, be building that mosaic in your community where, you know, all workers feel a part of the community. They feel accepted and welcomed. And we're being really intentional about that, looking at, you know, how many companies are providing DENI training, how many employees are going through that training. the type of leadership and civic engagement programs that we're putting on and how we're putting that intentional, you know, hat on the DENI work. We hear it from our largest companies over and over, the company CEOs around the importance of DENI work and they're leading the way in a lot of those spaces. And that's really important, you know, but it's it's a change for a number of communities and To me, I think it's it's kind of a dance. I I think of a waltz and you you need to feel, you know, feel the steps of your partner and your community in this work and make sure that you're you're leading, but you're not pushing too hard. You know, it's important for communities and communities are on all level of the spectrum in this space, you know, throughout the country, depending on where you're located, you know, urban versus rural plays into it, where in the country you're located. But I think that intentionality around D E and I work is very important.
33:33.602 Brandon Burton
Very good. So I don't think that this discussion today is going to give any concrete answers for chambers to to be future ready. But what I'm hoping is that it inspired them, that it will help them to want to lead that dance like you're talking about, to be able to find those answers and what their community needs to do to be future ready. But with that being said, Christy, what would be maybe one action item that you could encourage the chamber professional listening today to do to help take their chamber up to the next level.
34:08.942 Christy Gillenwater
Great. Well, I would say check out ACCE's website for inspiration in this space. Listen to, you know, Brandon's podcasts for inspirational work that's happening throughout the country. Talk to other chamber executives around what are they thinking five, 20 years out, and talk to your business leaders who particularly those who have locations in other parts of the country, perhaps aren't from you know your community who have a lens that's a little bit wider and ask them, you know, what they're excited about with respect to your economy, what they're concerned about over the next five, 10 to 20 years, and what kinds of things they think you should be thinking about as a chamber leader. And the kind of work that they would encourage you to drive to make sure that your community really is on the tip of the toes, you know, ball of your feet, if you will. Thinking through, okay, are we positioned to be able to receive what's coming at us, but at the same time really, you know, lead the work and envision a more prosperous future for our members, our community, our economy, our people? And I think really just listening, taking that in, and then going through a process of okay, what level of process makes sense for us? Is it you know a board retreat then to You know, assess all of that information that's been received and then walk through developing a strategy, is it pulling in, you know, a consultant who can help your community walk through that process? But I think it's important that process matters. You know, process I think matters more and more today than it did five, 10, 15 years ago. It's no longer, you know, five people around a table making decisions for a community. you know, it takes a much wider lens. And I think also it takes. understanding your assets and the essence of who your community, who you are, you know, so that the work that you do is authentic. It's the next best version of yourself. But but it's authentic work. And and I'll tell you Chattanooga's whole renaissance started with cleaning our air. You know, back in gosh, 50 years ago, we were we were unfortunately had a national reputation around our air quality.
36:32.428 Christy Gillenwater
And leaders back then rallied together and said, you know, that's not acceptable. And it's been, we've been 50 years in the making. And it just took intentional work, time and time again, 20 year visioning and at a time. And as we, you know, checked off those projects, those initiatives, then the next 20 years began. And I think it takes that bold leadership, willing to look, you know, 20 years out and not being afraid of it and thinking about, okay. Let's break that down into five years. Let's break that into the next twelve months, what we need to be doing to ensure that, you know, we are really having our we have our eyes focused twenty years out on where we want our community to go. And no matter your size, you can do this work. It's just you need to think about what, you know, your your skill sets are within your team, within your community. you know, think about your resources. but be bold. Don't be afraid to be bold and and you know just go for it because your community needs you. I think there's so much relevancy for chambers. and but we need to continue to be bold, you know, listen to our community, listen to our leaders within the community and and listen to what's happening around us in our region, in our state and our country and really globally and thinking through those trends and how those trends, those global trends, those national trends, how they impact your economy.
37:59.406 Brandon Burton
I love that. Listen, have the big vision of the future and then eat that elephant one bite at a time. Break it down into those those smaller steps. So as we wrap up here, this is the the question that I posed at the at the beginning is as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see their purpose going forward?
38:22.678 Christy Gillenwater
Well, and I think to a large extent I just answered that, Brandon. You know, just being bold, thinking, you know, staying in tune again with our national association and what other chambers are are doing in the country, you know, thinking through that work and formulating how that impacts your economy, you know, staying inspired, listen to your elected leaders, your business leaders around what the needs are in your community and making sure you're very focused on. what makes sense for the chamber to bring to life in that work and and really activate and and just whatever you decide to do, do it well to your best ability. And you'll continue to have success. I believe that.
39:08.718 Brandon Burton
for sure. So Christy, as we finish up here, I think you offered a lot of great value for those that are listening and opportunities for them to to be inspired, to, to take these things back to their chamber, to their communities, to listen to what those needs are and make it that plan for their future. But for those that are listening, if they have any questions about how you're doing things there at the Chattanooga chamber, or if they wanted to follow up with any of the discussion. offline, how might they get in contact with you to do that?
39:43.214 Christy Gillenwater
Great question, Brandon. So you can learn more about Chattanooga Climbs and what we have going on here in Chattanooga at the Chad our website is ChattanoogaCamber.com. So check us out on our website. And you can also learn more about the Greater Chattanooga Economic Partnership as well at just search Greater Chattanooga Economic Partnership. you can also email me at cgillenwater at chattanoogachamber.com. feel free to reach out to Jocelyn Nielsen on our team. She runs my work life and tries her best. Awesome, by the way. she is fantastic. so feel free to reach out to Jocelyn. She's listed on our website under contacts.
40:24.16 Brandon Burton
And she's on
40:34.088 Christy Gillenwater
to schedule, you know, a call with me or or time with me as well. So and that is to your point at the beginning of the podcast, Brandon, what I love about our profession. I have learned so much and been inspired by so many great chamber leaders in our country. And you know, there's such a willingness and a culture around sharing. And you know, we think that's very important because it's it's been shared with us on so many levels throughout the years that we are happy to share as well.
41:04.31 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. Christy, thank you so much for being with us today. We will update that contact information, your website on our show notes page, which will be found at chamberchatpodcast.com slash episode sixty. But again, just thank you so much for spending time with us today and sharing about how you guys are doing things there at the Chattanooga Chamber and and helping to help these other chambers to be able to see a brighter future. I appreciate it.
41:30.114 Christy Gillenwater
Well, Brandon, thank you so much for spotlighting what chambers are doing in the country. And I just want to thank all the friends out there who you know, again continue to be bold and who are thoughtful enough to help us. So thank you so much for the listeners today and and for your time. It's really an honor and privilege to be in this brilliant profession and to be on your show today. Thank you.
41:58.124 Brandon Burton
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