As 2010 comes to a close and we begin 2011, this will signify the end of my Chairmanship for the Board of Directors for your Chamber. It has been an honor and a distinct pleasure to represent our Chamber as its Board Chair over the last two years. I couldn’t be more pleased with our progress.

As I reflect back over these last two years, this Chamber and its Board have endured some heartache and some new milestones. We lost our dear past Chamber President Keith Pitcher to health problems; what a great person, community supporter and dear friend. We also brought on our new Chamber President, Kyle Morey. Kyle has infused MCC with a new enthusiasm and innovation, which I believe will give us, our county, and this region heightened levels of growth. Kyle’s background in chamber work, business development, branding, thought leadership, and business ownership—along with his team Rita, Angela, Betty, and Amy—gives us the edge we need to move forward in connecting businesses to create commerce.

We all witnessed the recent success of the regional Get Linked Expo just after 5 months on the job. Over 85 exhibiting companies from 16 cities bought into the vision of regionalism. Close to a thousand business professionals “got linked,” making this the largest B2B show in Madison County.

As we start 2011, I am proud to relinquish my Chair to Marcy DeShong, business owner and entrepreneur. I have great faith in Marcy and her ability to do a fantastic job in leading and advancing our cause. She has served faithfully on the board, on committees, and in the community. She is passionate about Madison County and its potential.

I am also excited to welcome six new members to our Board: Jack Harter (MainSource Bank), Barb Alder (Purdue University), Gary Erskine (STAR Financial Bank), Sally DeVoe (Madison County Community Foundation), Tammy Rimer (CN Design & Marketing), and Irma Hampton “Nave” Stewart (Attorney at Law). With better representation from around the county and in varied industries, I believe we have the leadership to “make a joyful noise” in Madison County.

I encourage all of our members to become more active, suggest new ideas, brainstorm new events, encourage others to catch our vision, be a band leader and help us orchestrate this Chamber in becoming a fine piece of music so everyone will be singing about our success story.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this great organization and I thank everyone, especially the Chamber Team (present and retired), that has helped me along the way during my tenure as Board Chair.

Mike Latchaw

Board Chair, 2009-2010

Ever have a question that keeps you up at night? Mine is this: how can MCC better impact the bottom line of our regional economy?

I recently read a religious text suggesting that good things can rob us of better or best things (e.g., family relations, God, serving others, personal development). In my professional life, I interpreted this to mean that we don’t have enough time in the day to be involved with everything that is good if we hope to achieve that which is better or best. I find that I must forego some good things in order to focus my time and attention on what’s better or best for the business community.

That begs an answer to the next million dollar question: what is better or best for our business community? I think the answer falls in with the following four activities:

Incubate. Relocate. Educate. Congregate.

We can relocate what’s better or best into our market area. We can incubate it from within. We can better educate what we already have (current and future workforce) and/or we can congregate locally, regionally, and globally.

In many ways, we are already accomplishing this. We have multiple economic development entities including the Corporation for Economic Development (Madison County), the Chambers of Commerce for Elwood and Alexandria, the City of Anderson, Town of Pendleton, and others who work to relocate companies and jobs into their respective areas. The Flagship Enterprise Center serves to incubate new jobs and companies. Ivy Tech, Harrison College, Purdue Technology Center, and Anderson University and many others labor to educate the current and future workforces of America.

Where does MCC fit in? We congregate businesses, professionals, employers and employees to produce commerce. It’s called networking. It’s called connecting. We can congregate locally, regionally and globally. We congregate online, in print, and in person. Some ideas of programming might include exclusive networking groups by geography. Others reach out regionally in an effort to bring new dollars into our market. Example? The Get Linked Expo—a potential of $300,000 of new commerce for our market.

This is an area I feel that qualifies for a better or best effort on our behalf. If MCC can introduce new commerce, new dollars, new jobs, and new opportunities into Madison County, then perhaps we just might live up to our mission statement and I just might get a good night’s sleep.

Have you been “flipped” at a networking event recently? The Madison County Chamber now offers an additional way to connect online with video pitches and more. How does it work? Simply attend an upcoming networking event (Wake Up Breakfast, Women in Business, Get Linked Expo, etc.) and ask to be flipped. A member of the MCC Team will gladly whip out an official MCC Flip Video Camera, press the record button, and give you up to 30 seconds to tell the online world why they should do business with you.

“This is a great way to provide more content to search engines for business topics in Madison County,” says Angela Barbosa, Marketing and Communications for MCC. “It also provides another way for members to connect.”

The MCC Flip Camera will also record events, programs, and meetings that will then be posted online via YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

I am big on the “WOW” factor in event planning and production. But I learned a thing or two from the nation that brought us the stunning opening ceremony for the Olympics 2008: these guys know how to wow you! I spent 10 days with 40 other chamber presidents from around the US and Canada touring and participating in China’s economy. From the top of the China Wall to the Forbidden City and everything in between, the Chinese bent over backwards to impress and please us. We didn't just meet with mayors of Shanghai and Beijing, we were greeted from the moment we stepped off the bus with dancers, dragon actors, and greeters dressed in traditional Chinese garb, then guided to indoor plazas where we ate like royalty and listened to eloquent speeches to the background of traditional, live Chinese music and storytelling.

I would suggest the next time we want to land another Nestle-like manufacturer in our county, we come together and wow site selectors in like fashion. In fact, I will be so bold as to coin the following phrase: wow them like the Chinese!

See more China Trip photos at >> www.facebook.com/madisoncountychamberceo