Welcome 2019! The Chamber Board wrapped up 2018 by completion of its annual Board retreat.

Sincerest thanks to IMTT for hosting us at the schoolhouse in St. Rose. Incoming Chair, John Little, of Truck Farm Tavern in St. Rose, is eager to set the groundwork for a year of not only success, but continued growth!

You will have the opportunity to hear from him in some of these monthly columns on his vision and expectation for the year.

Your local Chamber celebrates a momentous year as we celebrate our 15th year of serving as your local Chamber of Commerce.

Plans will be finalized soon for the 2019 Annual Banquet, in addition to a special event for this occasion.

You can also expect the annual Crawfish Boil and Golf Tournament to continue this year as two of our largest attended networking events.

As the remainder of the year’s events are finalized, we are looking forward to success from projected growth in membership and engagement across the board with increased relationship and partnership building within and beyond the parish lines.

We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with LSBDC by continuing a theme of small business roundtables and seminars to targeted businesses markets.

Please be sure to take advantage of these opportunities created for you specifically.

We need YOU to help build a regional mentality. You may recall the effort the Chamber has openly supported, the regional workforce development plan for the River Parishes called La. Calling.

We are anticipating the launch of this product to be available in the coming months.

Stay tuned to the chamber website, L’OBSERVATEUR and social media avenues for additional updates.

We are looking for a few good leaders.

All members, big and small, are encouraged to reflect and consider 1-2 hours a month in some fashion either with Ambassadors, Business Development, Communications, Public Policy, Workforce Development, Crawfish boil or Golf Tourney.

This a great way to market yourself and your business to fellow chamber members and the community in general.

Leadership River Region 2019 is progressing strong into their sessions with 24 attendees.

Registration for the next class will open in May. This has been a great experience for many in a variety of ways.

Sincerest thanks to The Slone Group for their facilitation to help us instill a platform to build future leaders within the Chamber and our communities.

More thanks goes to our Program Sponsor, Dow Chemical, along with additional sponsors: Atmos Energy, Entergy and IMTT.

We certainly could not produce this program without your support!

For more info on how to become a sponsor of this wonderful program, contact the Chamber at 985-359-9777 or visit riverregionchamber.org.

Stay tuned to the calendar at riverregionchamber.org.

If you’re not using your Member app, contact us today to get up to speed on using this benefit.

Have you liked us on Facebook yet? We’re almost there. Help us reach 1,000.

Chassity McComack is executive director of the River Region Chamber of Commerce. Email her at Chassity@riverregionchamber.org or log onto riverregionchamber.org.