Dear Members,
With 2011 underway, I am very excited for the great things that have already happened, and I am looking forward a year full of development and progress.
As chairman, there are two things that I know we have to get accomplished. Many of you have volunteered or invested in the Council for Economic Outreach’s five-year campaign, Momentum 2015. By the end of March, I know CEO will meet or exceed its funding goal of $3.3 million with the help of our volunteer leaders and investors in the community. CEO and Momentum 2015 are vital components for our area’s future, and on March 31 I hope to be able to announce that CEO will be fully funded to go do the things that will grow our business community and to help attract new business to Gainesville/Alachua County.
As you know, the community has a work plan called Innovation Gainesville, an opportunity that continues to excite me. On Feb. 24, Innovation Gainesville held its first volunteer Summit to bring together our leaders and volunteers to set the course of iG for 2011. At the iG Summit we celebrated the accomplishments to date and set milestones for the rest of the year that will give us the momentum we need to push forward. Momentum has become the operative word for the Chamber, and this group of volunteers is committed to seeing our momentum continue.
Because of Innovation Gainesville, I probably have the easiest job of any chair and the hardest job. The easy part is that through the plans developed by iG leaders and task forces, we know what we have to do – we have milestones and accomplishments to meet, and that’s what we’ll do. That’s the easy part. The hard part is that we’ll need a lot of discipline to accomplish those goals, and that is what I aim to do. My job this year is to keep us on track to meet the goals set by the iG plans, and that’s what the Chamber will be focused on.
Innovation Gainesville is the kind of community effort that will require all of us to succeed. I hope you share my vision for the future of Gainesville, and will work with me and the Chamber to make iG a success for Gainesville and for the business community. One day we will all look back on this time and be proud of what we started.
Thank you, and let’s have a great year
Thomas McIntosh,
2011 Chairman of the Board
Watch a short video introduction from the Chairman.