MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Chair’s message

Steve Baue, president and owner ERC: Counselors and Consultants / Steve Baue, LLC

Ibecame involved with the Greater Green Bay Chamber when we moved to Green Bay eight years ago. As I’ve shared before, it didn’t take long to realize the Chamber had the best events, brought in speakers I could learn from, and led the initiatives I wanted to be a part of. This view was strengthened even more when I transitioned from executive to small business owner. So, the chance to play a small role in the Chamber’s mission via the chairperson role was one I could never say no to.

Of course, no one could have prepared us for what this past year has brought. I remember Laurie Radke telling me the time commitment for the chair role would be just a few hours a month. That’s not quite how it worked out.

I started my term with modest goals of further driving the board of directors’ responsibilities, ensuring the Chamber was building bench strength, implementing a long-term revenue strategy, and for me to be a visible chair. And while I can say we made significant strides in those first three goals, who would have guessed being a visible chair would be accomplished from my basement via my laptop camera.

Now, this is normally the section where the chair lists all the accomplishments of the last 12 months, but my time as chair will be marked by two seminal events: COVID-19 and the divisive gap of equality in our community:

• Because of COVID-19, the Chamber had to pivot its way of doing business overnight. The Chamber team had to move a 138-year organization based on face-to-face connection to almost 100% virtual. So many things had to change and so many new tools were implemented including the COVID-19/ We Still Mean Business resource section on the Chamber website, online seminars, industry specific roundtables, virtual power networking, weekly videos with community leaders, jobs page, the Greater Green Bay Small Business Hotline and the Greater Green Bay Back to Business Grant program. In addition, and whenever possible, the Chamber made sure to have the voice of its members and our community heard at both the state and federal levels.

• The murder of George Floyd and the resulting civil unrest reinforced the need for the

Chamber to be a leader both as convener and facilitator of critical conversations and actions. This mindset and resulting actions actually started three years ago when more than 300 of our community leaders came together to create a Greater Green Bay

Economic Development Strategic Plan that would be community-owned and -driven. At that time, we recognized the challenges our communities faced regarding diversity and inclusiveness. From that, Initiative #10 of the strategic plan and its resulting diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) task force was formed, co-chaired by community members. And while the D&I task force has made progress via the CEO Action for diversity and inclusion pledge, board of director diversity, small business diversity and housing diversity working groups, it recognizes there is so much more to be done. Our lives have changed. In looking back, there is no way to not be affected by the events and work of the last year. I am thankful I was supported by, and learned from, an amazing group of individuals at the Chamber that extended plenty of mercy and grace (especially when it comes to my humor). I did my best to embrace this experience with open arms, and the result has made immeasurable impact on me professionally and personally.

I want to thank Cindy Caine Treleven for her mentorship and guidance. She left an incredible shadow to fill, and I can only hope that I reached some level of semblance. Let us welcome our new chair, Pat Schillinger. No stranger to the Greater Green Bay Chamber and community, Pat brings an incredible level of expertise to this role, and I am excited for the impact he will have. But I must save my biggest thanks for Laurie Radke. We are fortunate to have Laurie as a prominent leader in our community. Working closely with Laurie has been an absolute pleasure. She is truly a great leader, mentor, teacher and guide. Her hard work and unwavering commitment is why we have the Chamber we do.

Thank you all; it has been a privilege to serve.