Raymond Burns, CCE | President/CEO | RLC
A message from the President Happy New Year!
We’re entering the final year of our 3-Year-Strategic Plan, Vision 100, inspiring us to imagine our journey of dynamic growth and re-imagine the Chamber.
• Vision 100: The Rogers Lowell Chamber has incorporated our visioning to develop programs, philosophy and strategy geared towards how we approach growth, building, and bonds for our area.
Why it matters:
• Relevance: This is ensuring we’re relevant to the next generation of servant leaders who desire to serve business and community together.
• Competence: It is also helping us to be competent in an era of rapid change, and to remain necessary because our mission-work is solving important business and community challenges.
• Sustainable: And it’s moving us in the direction of being more sustainable with our long-term funding from our customers, members, and investors.
Our Progress: The 2024 Leaders Conference was held at the Embassy Suites on June 27, 2024, bringing together business and community leaders to provide an update on Vision 100 as well as discuss the future of our community.
• The group heard from leaders from around the region including Robert Burns with the Walton Family Foundation, Dr. Jeff Perry with Rogers Public Schools, City Officials from both Rogers and Lowell, and Nelson Peacock with the NWA Council.
Conclusion: The stage is set for dramatic growth in Northwest Arkansas, which means a focus on the incoming population MUST play a more prominent role. At the 2024 Leaders Conference, local business and community leaders discussed the solutions and challenges in maintaining a quality of life aligned with the small-town hometown feel that everyone desires, as we develop into a larger metropolitan area.
• Dig deeper here.
December Events Recap
Mixer de Negocios
Business After Hours
Coffee Connection
Downtown Merchant Meet-Up
Learn more on pg. 11
FREE NWA Employer Awareness
Video Sessions with NWA Council
Current efforts are ongoing to provide awareness of our region’s hiring needs and to build awareness of each of our employers.
• We want to ensure your employment needs are presented to our students, job-seekers and beyond.
We will kick off 2025 by offering our employers FREE recording session to showcase immediate and upcoming hiring needs and training opportunities through our employer highlight series and we want to highlight YOUR organizations!
These videos:
• Typically consist of a 3-4 minutes and provide either face-to-face discussion or B-Roll that informs viewers as to immediate hiring needs, highlighted benefits, company culture, how to connect and more.
• These videos will be pushed out via multiple social media streams to our regions’ job seekers.
With additional recording spaces available, please let us know if you or your organization would like to be featured in our lineup.
To register for these spaces, please contact Joe Rollins at Joe@NWACouncil.org
2025 Signature
2025 MAJOR EVENTS CALENDAR
Sips on the Bricks Recap
Merchant Meetup Recap
Downtown Rogers Merchant Meet-Up: Business owners and their team members joined us at 2nd Street Studio on Nov. 21 and Tusk & Trotter on Dec. 19 for an opportunity to connect and collaborate with local businesses throughout the holiday season.
2nd Street Studio: Nov. 21
• Guest Speaker: Kaylee Williamson, Manager/ Director/Producer at 2nd Street Studio took us behind the scenes of Onyx Coffee’s 2nd Street Studio, while sharing social media calendar tips.
Tusk & Trotter: Dec. 19
• Collaboration: Tusk and Trotter shared their farm-to-table approach and the importance of local business collaboration, highlighting how partnerships are a powerful way to give back to the community while fostering meaningful connections.
Mission Work: This monthly meet-up is part of the Chamber’s ongoing initiative to support small businesses and entrepreneurship in Downtown Rogers.
ARVEST First Leadership (AFL) invests in the future of our community by providing an innovative, studentfocused program promoting personal growth and leadership development opportunities.
• This free program introduces students to leadership skills and competencies, builds selfesteem, explores career paths, and develops interpersonal skills.
Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Visit
• On-site Learning: On Dec. 11, AFL toured the Mercy Hospital facilities, heard from tradition and nontraditional healthcare workers and learned more about the industry’s opportunities and challenges.
Investing in Young Leaders Quarterly Spotlight Series Recap
RLC’s Spotlight Series is designed to bring the RIGHT PEOPLE together at the RIGHT TIME to spark innovation, inspire ideas and align our community around common goals.
• Issue: What are we as a region doing to create talent pipelines, upskill existing workers, and encouraging future workforce to engage with in-demand careers?
• Solution: Raising awareness on the need for Workforce Development has been a strong focus of the Rogers Lowell Chamber and others in NWA. December Speakers:
• Dr. Joe Rollins, Director of Workforce Development, NWA Council
• Dr. Tara Dryer, Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, University of Arkansas
• Bethany Hollis, Talent Acquisition Relationship Manager, Mercy Health
Mission work: As the Chamber continues its 28th year of AFL, we continue to increase engagement with the next generation of leaders and define pathways for leadership opportunities in both the Chamber and our community!
• Have questions: Contact us to learn more about RLC’s various leadership programs.
Mission work: Each series spotlights different issues and progress with opportunities for growing business, activating high-impact leaders, and building a strong and diverse place to visit, live, invest, work and play!
• Thank you to our sponsors!
Rogers Lowell Chamber Events
Benton BusinessCounty After Hours
Thursday, January 16 from 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Landers Toyota NWA 411 South Metro Parkway, Rogers
Coffee Connection
Tuesday, January 14 from 8:30 - 9:30 am
Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette 809 S. 52nd St., Rogers
Central Referral Connection
Every Wednesday from 9 - 10:15 am
Golden Corral | 2605 West Pleasant Crossing Drive, Rogers
NWA Night Out at the Capitol
Tuesday, January 28 from 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Next Level Events | 1400 West Markham Street, Ste. 104, Little Rock
$50 tickets
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