The following column is from Paul Morse with GE Lighting Systems:
The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce is a 1000+ membership based business organization representing businesses, not just in Henderson County, but all around the Western North Carolina region. I am Paul Morse, GE Lighting Solutions Site Leader, and I represent one of those businesses.
The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce has been a great partner to our local GE Lighting business since the early 1950s. A call was placed to the Chamber, from GE headquarters, requesting local assistance in finding suitable industrial land for a potential new GE plant. The only instructions were to meet with a visiting company representative and to drive him around the county in a search for potential land that could be contained by fencing. The Chamber moved into action and in 1955 our new GE plant opened on Spartanburg Highway. In 1956, the new plant was on the cover of the GE Annual Report, and the facility hosted the GE Annual Shareholders meeting.
This was the beginning of a great GE-Chamber relationship. Over the decades, the Chamber has been a public, positive voice in supporting both our expansions and difficult restructuring actions necessary to maintain our operation’s competitiveness. Today, we are growing and investing in LED lighting technologies and launching exciting new innovative products. As a growing leading technology business, we are proud to say we have been able to recall all of the employees impacted by a former restructuring.
We support the Chamber because it has always been a local advocate and supporter for our business through good times and bad. They are willing to assist our business with navigating water, sewer, power, and other infrastructure issues with the local and state officials.
Thank you to the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce for supporting our local GE Lighting Solutions business and all the other businesses in Henderson County!
The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce strives to be a community resource, an information source and link for our area. For more information on what the Chamber can do for you and your business stop by the office or call 828-692-1413.
Posts Tagged ‘Henderson County Chamber of Commerce’
Why GE Lighting Systems Supports the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce
Great article from one of our members explaining why they are a Chamber member
Following is a great article from Paul Parker, President of Carolina Information Technology Resource Corporation explaining why he is a member of the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce:
The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce is a 1000+ membership based business organization representing businesses, not just in Henderson County, but all around the Western North Carolina region. I am Paul Parker, President of Carolina Information Technology Resource Corporation and I am one of those businesses.
I originally joined the Henderson County Chamber in late 2005. During my first year of membership, I participated in a few Chamber events, but when it came time to renew my membership, I seriously considered dropping. A good friend of mine, who happened to serve on the Board of Directors for the Chamber, talked me into reconsidering and suggested that I make an attempt to get further involved in the Chamber by becoming an Ambassador. So I did.
The Ambassador Committee works as the customer service arm of the Chamber. We organize networking activities and special events as well as making calls on new members, work the registration table at Business After Hours, attend ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings and a lot more. The Ambassador Committee is the most active committee in the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce and, after 6 years, I am proud to say I am the longest active Ambassador. In fact, for the past two years, I have served as Chairman of the Ambassador Committee. That goes to show how important I feel this committee and its involvement in the Chamber is.
My business is considered a small business, as are 95% of the businesses that are members of the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce. I encourage all small businesses to try to become more active in the Chamber. Take advantage of everything your membership offers. Business After Hours, Business Morning Update, AM Power Hour, Power Networking, Leads Group, Chamber 101 – all these are offered at no charge to Chamber members. If you are uncertain on how to meet people and spread the word about your product or service, consider becoming a Chamber Ambassador. It is a great place to start. You will meet a lot of active members and can make some long lasting business connections. I guarantee it!
Again, I am Paul Parker, President of Carolina Information Technology Resource Corporation, a complete IT solutions provider with a strong emphasis on network and data security, serving Western North Carolina as well as the Upstate. I have offices in Brevard, Hendersonville and Asheville, and I can be reached at 828.651.0074.
Find Out What’s Going On at the Chamber
There are a bunch of great options to keep up with what is going on at the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce. If you are a member, but aren’t receiving our weekly e-newsletter that goes out every Tuesday morning, that means we don’t have your email on file. Give us a call and we will get that fixed for you.
The Chamber also has a Facebook page, a LinkedIn page, a Twitter page (HendersonCoCham) and a flickr page where we post photos from all our events. You might want to check that it out. You might see yourself in one of our pictures!
We also publish a bi-monthly “Chamber Business Report” in the Times-News. It publishes the last Tuesday of every other month. The publication schedule for 2011 is: February 22nd, April 26th, June 28th, August 30th, October 25th, and December 27th.
And, of course, you can always check back here – our website. It is the best and most up-to-date place to go for information. Or, give us a call – 828.692.1413!