Page 36 - April 2015 Life In Naples Magazine

Leading Businesses. Leading Communities.
Be Engaged. Be informed. Be the Difference. Naples Works. Opportunity Happens.
by John S. Cox, CCE, CEcD, IOM
EPresident & CEO
ach of the three sets of two sentences above describe the work
that takes place under the umbrella of the Greater Naples
Chamber of Commerce and its Affiliates: Opportunity Naples
and Leadership Collier.The Mission of the Greater Naples Chamber is
to make Collier County the best place in America to live,work and visit.
We do that work in and through four pillars: Community Development,
Leadership Development, Economic Development and Public Policy.
We aren’t the only actors on the community stage—we partner with
dozens of other community groups, governments, educational systems,
residents and businesses all vitally interested in the sustainability of
this community over time. Our all-Volunteer Boards, our Committee
members, the nearly 100 Visitor and Information Center Volunteers,
our Ambassador and Action Team (80 strong) and our professional
staff are engaged each day in pursuing a collective impact. We call it
“Mission.”
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
We believe in supporting, endorsing and promoting a number
of community led initiatives like recognizing the importance of
completing the Freedom Memorial, promoting the Identity Task Force
or allowing the Reef Project to get off the ground at a recent Wake
Up Naples event. Our commitment in this area speaks to why we are
so committed to the Blue Zone project. Community Development
also takes place through the Membership and Marketing arm of our
Chamber. We bring together people, ideas, and priorities. It’s often
said, “We do things other people think just happen.” Whether you’re
sitting with 60 people at an Accelerated Luncheon, attending a Wake
Up Naples breakfast with 130 other early risers or meeting 150 new
business contacts at an After 5 event you will get to know this town
and become part of this community. We also care about education
attainment, teacher recruitment and creating a community where
every person sets and attains goals for themselves and their families.
It’s about strengthening Collier County that leads us to ask everyone to
join the Greater Naples Chamber—including you. In Naples, leading
businesses are leading our communities.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
It’s hard to argue with twenty-six years of success! Leadership
Collier is the flagship of our leadership offerings. Everything rises or
falls on leadership. Our classes sell out year after year and are described also why we encourage thoughtful, experienced and growing leaders to
mainly by one word: Transformational. You could be brand new to this
place as I was when I entered the class or you could have lived here all
your life—the experience is transformational. Our GAIN (Growing
Associates In Naples) initiative targets young professionals forty years
old or younger. This program sells out year after year as well and one
of the take away ideas—perhaps the most compelling—is that there
are passionate, skilled, talented and involved young professionals in this
market who want to make Naples home,who want to raise their families
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here and who want to build their businesses here
as well. We also have a Youth Leadership cohort
for rising juniors—and we only accept 33 into
this prestigious program each summer. Adding to
those programs is the work done by Leadership
Collier Alumni now some 1400 leaders strong!
And we know we can and must do more to create,
empower and release these leaders back into the
community so they can Be Engaged,Be informed
and Be the Difference.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Our Partnership for Collier’s future economy is now ready to
do business as Opportunity Naples. Under our Board’s leadership
the Opportunity Naples Steering Committee is morphing into
an Implementation Committee pursuing a three year economic
development plan. Fourteen key initiatives are included in the pre-
implementation plan. We believe our community will be sustainable
overtime by diversifying the economy now. We want to create an
environment where local talent will build local companies that will
create local jobs with higher skills and innovation. You may have
read recently of our work with a local, rapidly expanding, tech related
company, which was prepared to move out of Collier County. We are
known by the companies we keep. We don’t want to lose another job.
Fortunately all of us working together were able to find a solution,
which will allow us to retain 50 jobs, anticipate an expansion of jobs and
recognize the value of new capital investment in this community. We
plan to keep creating opportunity in Naples.That’s why we say,“Naples
Works. Opportunity Happens.”
PUBLIC POLICY
We believe the economy is best served when good government and
good business work together. That’s why our engagement in Public
Policy is so important. Transportation infrastructure, fire-police-safety,
growth management and education are all important areas where
business and government have important work to do—and it is best
done together.We celebrate the fact that we have access to and influence
with our elected officials. And we also take seriously our responsibility
to understand from our business base what those key policy issues are.
We know the future of economic development tomorrow is excellence
in education today and we want our talent pipeline full of our own
well-trained, qualified and skilled employees. Those same reasons are
consider running for political office—another way to make a difference!
Our community umbrella is large—big enough for everyone to step
under. I invite you to join us in the work of making Collier County the
best place in America to live work and visit and to help achieve wins in
these important areas.
Life in Naples | April 2015