Message From the Board Chairman

 I am honored to be given the opportunity to serve in this leadership role for the board this year. Here is a little bit of background about your new Chairman…. I have worked the past 29 years for Midwestern University and currently serve in the role as Vice President of Finance. I have responsibilities for the day to day financial operations of the campus in Downers Grove and a second campus that we opened in 1995 in Glendale Arizona. I have been on the Chamber board for the past two years and was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to serve in a leadership role.

I have big shoes to fill as chairman, in the two years I’ve served on the board, the past 2 chairmen; Bill Murphy and Don Duncan have left the Chamber in a better financial and strategic position each year.

As a board member we learn about the business environment within Downers Grove and the surrounding communities that have business’s represented in the Chamber. Therefore I feel I know you and your business and the many challenges and opportunities you face on a daily basis.

When I was first recruited to the Board as many of you may have experienced as you have been recruited to serve on various boards, you don’t know what really to expect.  I remember as I was being interviewed; you hear all the “sales pitches” of the vision and mission of the Chamber and the assistance to the entire business community.  Well after about two meetings I was blown away by the synergy of the various groups. The partnership between the Chamber, the Economic Development Commission, the Village of Downers Grove and the Downtown Management Corporation is phenomenal.  Laura is at the helm of the Chamber along with the entire board of directors working together on so many of the issues that each of you face daily in running your business. What I witnessed was the joint collaboration creating this awesome workforce, representing the business community in Downers Grove and working for your best interests to make you proud to have your business represented in this community and knowing that we are here to help and promote your business and hear your concerns.

Each Chairman needs to have a campaign theme that they want to introduce.  Last year Don introduced the BUY CHAMBER program and it is a very successful program.   I thought the theme, however, was a little lengthy.  I have been recently introduced to the world of texting as a result of having teenage son. So I had to think of something short and appealing to the youth of our business community.  So I am shorting Don’s campaign theme of Buy Chamber to  “Be Chamber”

By that I mean:

Be involved …in the Chamber

Be supportive….of the Chamber

Be committed….to the businesses in the Chamber

Be active in Committees, Groups, Networks and Programs the Chamber has to offer.

Be aware of the other Chamber Members in the BUY CHAMBER program and support their businesses.

Be an ambassador for the Chamber

This Chamber can work for you if we hear from you.  How do we hear from you; by you being involved. You are the stakeholders of this Chamber.  There are so many opportunities to be involved in the Chamber.  Check out the calendar on the Chamber website. Weekly there is almost something you can derive value for you business through Chamber involvement.  By being involved your business can only be enriched, whether financially though new revenue streams or decreased expenditures. 

During this difficult economic period you need to let the Chamber work for you and get the most out of your membership.  We need to demonstrate to you the return on your investment for your membership. As mentioned earlier, I oversee financial operations and prepare new business plans all the time in my role at the University, and one of the principals that I use to support these ideas is value added to my organization.  My goal is to develop a way that we can demonstrate to you value added and a positive return on your investment with the Chamber. You should feel good when you financially support the Chamber and feel that the Chamber added value to your business by cost reductions or increased sales.

In closing I again want to say I am honored to be in this role and serve the Chamber for the next year. As I see the relationships, Laura is the captain of this airplane and the board has entrusted me, with much help from my fellow Board Members and Chamber staff to be in the control tower to help guide her to fly this plane to be in a better position a year from now. The Board and Chamber staff hope to see you along this journey to the destination we call - Be Chamber.

Thank you,

Dean Malone
Chairman of the Board

Complete list of Board Members