Exiting President’s Message

The Success of Business

by T.J. Sullivan, Huggins Insurance

As I wrap up my second term as President of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, I have my elevator speech about the importance of the Salem Chamber down pat. We exist to increase the economic security of the family units in our community. We don’t care about the color of your skin, your political party affiliation, your sexual orientation, your gender, or even which college football team you prefer. Research shows that when families don’t have economic security things like spouse abuse, child abuse, drug/alcohol abuse, and high school drop out rates all increase. Conversely, when families have economic security things like literacy rates, emotional/ physical health, and giving financially to others, all improve.

Did you ever stop to consider how many things are dependent on the success of business? Certainly, the owners of the business, their family, their employees, the families of their employees all depend on the business. Consider though that the paychecks for teachers, government employees, and workers in non-profits, don’t exist without businesses existing and paying taxes. In a perfect world, the more business thrives, the more successful these other entities are. It would make sense then that everyone should make decisions based on what is going to help business reach new heights.

As we know, especially in Oregon, what is best for business is often the last thing that is considered. If economic security is important and that private industry is the engine producing the dollars that are generated out of business – what makes for a healthy business climate is where every policy should start. Being focused on our mission means that we need to bring this discussion to policy makers and ideally make sure these policy makers are receptive. This is the reason the Chamber of Commerce is involved in politics and the reason why you should be involved in the political process. Public Policy meetings are a great place to get plugged in…

Remember seven lines ago when I said that in a perfect world business thrives and schools, governments, and nonprofits find success? The Salem Chamber is at work in all these areas. We have a great relationship with the Salem Keizer School District and look for opportunities to help get the next generation ready to learn and ready to work. We consult with elected officials and government administrators to give them insight on policies and rules that would make our city, region and state more livable. The young adults who go through The Inspire Foundation’s Leadership Youth Program spend their second year serving on a nonprofit Board. We want to teach them while they are young about the important role that these entities play in our social fabric; that belief is evident throughout the organization.

Hopefully you are buying what I am selling because we need you. The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce is in great shape. We have an amazing CEO in Tom Hoffert, an amazing President Elect in Kathy Gordon, a Board of Directors that is made up of community all-stars, an eager to serve staff and volunteers at every level who sacrifice their time for your business. Therefore, you should lean in a little more, all you have gained is a lot more economic security...

It has been a pleasure to serve and I look forward to doing business with you soon. 503.