OPTIMISM
MONTGOMERY CHAMBER
in Action
2025 Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Chairman Stacia Robinson leads the organization in its 152nd year at a pivotal moment in time - strengthening the core of the capital region and driving economic growth to fuel the Central Alabama economy.
2025 Chamber Chair Stacia Robinson brings a diverse range of expertise to the organization’s boardroom table, but perhaps her standout quality is her enthusiasm for the Chamber’s mission as well as her adopted hometown.
As the capital city and River Region leave 2024 behind and enter a new year, incoming Chairman Robinson will lead The Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce in its efforts to drive economic growth and build a greater Montgomery region for all. She’s more than prepared for the role, thanks to her depth and breadth of Chamber knowledge. Robinson has been a Chamber member since 1991, and not just a name in the directory.
For more than three decades, the founder and president of BeneChoice Companies has been heavily involved in the Chamber’s events and initiatives, including helping start the Chamber’s CEO Roundtable (which is still going).
by JENNIFER S. KORNEGAY
photography by BRYAN CARTER
PUTTING Benefit IN THE Benefits INDUSTRY
Robinson, a Denver, Colorado native, graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta before joining the Air Force. During her time in ROTC at Georgia Tech, she met her future husband. Her military career took her to Germany, and the couple tied the knot in Denmark before being jointly assigned to Gunter Air Force Base. Stacia later separated from the Air Force with the rank of Captain, while her husband retired and transitioned to civilian life. Together, they decided to make their home in the area.
Robinson then bought a franchise of Business Network International, the world’s largest referral network organization, and the work fueled a desire to aid small business. A fellow BNI member piqued her interest in the employee benefits space, and that, coupled with the Chamber roundtable conversations about benefits, motivated her to found BeneChoice in 2000.
Coming full circle, the program played a part in the formation of BeneChoice. “Employees and benefits were and still are some of the main topics of discussion in the roundtables,” Robinson says. “Second to payroll, benefits are the biggest costs for almost all businesses.” After hearing employers continually voice the same concerns, she decided to be part of the solution.
Today, BeneChoice is focused on helping business owners provide the right benefits to attract and retain talent and meet their employees’ needs by creating custom benefits packages. “We help employers protect their bottom line and help employees protect their paycheck,” Robinson says. “We want benefits to truly benefit both sides.”
CHAMBER Cheerleader
While BeneChoice and her 2023 appointment to Governor Kay Ivey’s cabinet as Director of the Alabama Office of Minority Affairs keep Robinson busy, she remains committed to the Chamber and had no qualms about putting on the Chairman hat. The active and optimistic member never wastes an opportunity to champion the organization she’s long supported and has gained support from. “The Chamber is the anchor for our regional economy and all things economic development,” she says. “The way it supports our business community and forges essential public-private partnerships, which are vital for success.”
After her longstanding membership, Robinson understands the Chamber’s value inside and out and uses her insight to encourage others to join. “There is no other way, no better way, to grow and scale and add to your business and to the quality of life here than getting involved in our Chamber,” she says. She also points to an example from her own Chamber experience. “I got to know Margaret Carpenter [who started Jubilee City Fest] through the Chamber, and she mentored me,” she says. “She always said, ‘Get known in something other than your business. It is the way to get visibility and credibility so you can have profitability.’ Chamber membership is the way to do that.”
Robinson’s own visibility, credibility and her consistent availability moved her up the Chamber’s leadership ranks. When she was first appointed to the board, she became the first Black female to serve. She then chaired the board’s marketing committee. She’s lent her time and talents to multiple other Chamber endeavors through the years, blazing a trail that led her to hold the Chairman’s gavel, where she makes another meaningful mark: She’s the first Black female with the title.
“Stacia is a champion for business and community, and that is really the very core of our Chamber,” said Anna Buckalew, Chamber President and CEO. “The Montgomery Regional Chamber brings leadership around the table to seize opportunities, deal with obstacles, and build partnerships to fuel economic growth and a better quality of life and place. I can’t think of a stronger leader in each of those regards than Stacia Robinson,” said Buckalew.
Robinson possesses additional distinctions, too. Her time in the military and her work with the governor inform her views on a variety of topics and issues. “I understand the federal government, the state government, and then I’m a business owner too, plus my community involvements,” she says. “Combined, these things give me a unique perspective.”
And she’s bringing it all to the Chamber, where she hopes to boost small businesses, and in turn, boost the region’s prosperity. “I plan to focus on bringing forth and supporting the talent we have here in small businesses and advocate for more focused growth and development in that sector, particularly in innovation and tech,” Robinson says. “All small businesses need more resources, and when they thrive, everyone thrives. They create the backbone needed to bring the big businesses here.” She’s also excited about the future young Montgomerians are building. “There are many young people coming here and staying here and doing positive things, so I want to amplify what they’re doing, too.”
With that in mind, Robinson’s three primary goals as Chairman are fortifying small business infrastructure, fortifying workforce and talent initiatives and fostering stronger regional and state relations. “I want to see more collaboration,” she says. “We work together now, but those bonds need to be even tighter than they are.”
“There is no other way, no better way, to grow and scale and add to your business and to the quality of life here than getting involved in our Chamber.”
“I am not from here, but I love it here. I’m a selfappointed ambassador for Montgomery and Alabama,” Robinson says. “And I love changing people’s minds about this place.” But it’s not only outsiders she endeavors to convince. “We need to quit talking down about ourselves. There are things to improve, but let’s not only talk about them, let’s roll up personal feelings and come together to step up and be part of the solution. I’m asking everyone to do that.”
Robinson knows we can because she’s seen it already. Noting for any friction, there’s also a steady stream of communication. “Even if we disagree, we do talk, and that doesn’t happen everywhere,” she says. “That’s one of Montgomery’s best attributes.”
COMMUNITY Counts
2025 Chamber Chairman Stacia Robinson is embedded in Montgomery, and since coming to the city more than 30 years ago, she’s participated in more than 40 different community organizations. But they share several themes. “I’m always interested in business, justice and groups that serve women and underserved communities,” she says.
She’s currently a member of the Montgomery Rotary Club (and is a past president) and sits on Renasant Bank’s advisory board and the National Federation of Independent Business leadership council, a post she’s occupied for 20 years.
In between it all, Robinson makes time for her family (her husband Toy and their grown daughter and son) and several beloved hobbies, including playing handbells in her church, playing violin and seeing the world. “I love travel; I got that from my mother, who in the summers would wake us up and say ‘Get dressed. We’re going to go get lost today’,” she says. So far, she’s been to Canada, South America, all over Europe, South Africa and 48 states. “I’ve only got Alaska and North Dakota left,” she says.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2025 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
Pictured from Left to Right (seated): Anna B. Buckalew, President & CEO; R. Gary Harrison, Dixie Electric Cooperative, Vice Chairman
Pictured from Left to Right (standing): LaBarron Boone, Beasley Allen Law Firm, Vice Chairman; Russ Tyner, Baptist Health, Vice Chairman; Stacia Robinson, The BeneChoice Companies, Chairman; Robert W. Birmingham, Regions Bank, Chairman-Elect; Caryn C. Hughes, ServisFirst Bank, Immediate Past Chairman
