Albany Area Chamber’s 111th Annual Meeting Celebrates Successes, Sets Course for Future, Accelerated Impact
Friday, April 30th, 2021
The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its 111th annual meeting last night on the Bricks at Thronateeska in downtown Albany. The event is one of the most important of the year for the Albany Area Chamber and celebrates accomplishments, shares how the Chamber will continue to move businesses forward throughout the year ahead, and shines the light on the Chamber’s most engaged leaders and those who have worked to make a positive impact on Albany and the Albany Area.
The 2021 COVID-friendly event has been reimagined, and was held outdoors, showcasing one of Albany’s most prominent cultural attractions, Thronateeska Heritage Center and its Wetherbee Planetarium.
The Albany Area Chamber was founded in 1910, when business leaders saw the need for an organization that would represent the interests of job-creating businesses, harness the assets of the community and bring partners together for the economic and social prosperity of Albany and the Albany Area. Its success through more than a century of work lies in the support of its members and investors, strategic partners, dedicated staff, visionary board of directors and the hundreds of volunteers whose commitment to a vibrant Albany is unwavering.
“As the year unfolds, the Albany Area Chamber will remain true to its purpose, as we have for 111 years,” said Bárbara Rivera Holmes, president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber, the region’s largest business advocacy organization. “We’ll continue to support job creation, business investment, economic mobility and free enterprise. We’ll continue to advocate and to champion; to connect, to convene and to collaborate; to nurture and to provide; to activate and, through implementation of our future-focused strategic plan, #ImpactABY2023, accelerate Albany’s sustainable economic recovery.”
The 2021 annual meeting, presented by Georgia CEO and Colony Bank, included the transfer of the chairman’s gavel; honored the Chamber’s Lifetime Service Award recipient Courtney Brinson; recognize the 2020 Small Business of the Year Bishop Clean Care and the 2020 Nonprofit of the Year Open Arms; and announce the 2020 Albany Under 40 Young Professional of the Year, Sarah Holloway. The annual meeting is traditionally held in January.
Perry Revell, 2020 chairman of the Albany Area Chamber Board of Directors and executive vice president at AB&T, will formally present Matt Reed as the organization’s 2021 chairman. Reed is owner and CEO of Georgia CEO, the state’s most influential online business newsletter. Revell assumes a new role as chair of the board of directors of the Albany Area Chamber Foundation, the 501©3 affiliate of the Albany Area Chamber. Don Gray, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, assumes the role of chair-elect and is poised to take reigns in 2022.
“Throughout the last 12 months, our community and your Albany Area Chamber stood resilient and impactful and fought a crisis like no other. I can say with confidence that we've accelerated the work the hard work, the trust and the leadership capabilities it takes to continue to grow and prosper,” Revell said. “It’s been an honor to serve as the 2020 chairman and to work alongside our dedicated staff, board and volunteers as champions for our members, Albany and the Albany Area.”
“This annual meeting brings our community together to discuss the past year and look to the future,” said Reed. “I am excited to see the continued progress that the Albany Area Chamber and community are making to help address the challenges we face. The future is indeed bright for Albany.”
