The Wilmington Chamber of Commerce

The Wilmington Chamber of Commerce held its 144^th annual meeting and luncheon Wednesday, February 23 at the Coast Line Conference and Event Center with U.S. Senator Kay Hagan as its keynote speaker.  Senator Hagan addressed issues concerning small business and working with banks to make obtaining financing for them easier.  The 2010 Chairman Randy Tomsic (Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Co.) spoke about new initiatives developed from the 2010 strategic planning process, highlights and accomplishments of the previous year and acknowledged leaders and introduced the incoming Chairman for 2011, Jack Barto (New Hanover Regional Medical Center).  Among the new initiatives were refreshing the Chamber’s image and focus, and a new logo was introduced – a large blue and black W.  A new 7-tier membership structure was a change implemented from the Chamber’s strategic planning process which give members more options for membership investment with benefits based on their level.  Levels depend on where you see your place in the business community: 1. a Visionary, 2. a Leader, 3. an Advocate, 4. an Executive, 5. an Investor, 6. a Principal and 7. a Founder.  For information on cost and benefits, contact dunaway@wilmingtonchamber.org.  

The 2011 officers are:  Chairman Jack Barto, 1^st Vice Chair Emily Longley, 2^nd Vice Chair Hal Kitchin, Jr. and Treasurer Bill Sharbaugh.  The new Board of Directors are: Rob Kaiser, Mitch Lamm, Mary Margaret Latham, John Lyon, Connie Majure-Rhett, Bob McCall, Bob McKoy, Rochelle Myers, Beth Pancoe, Dallas Romanowski, Jon Rosborough, Dave Spetrino, Jr., Randy Tomsic, Raiford Trask III and Ken Weeden, Chris Costantini, Wilma Daniels, Debbie Elliott, Vinton Fountain, Rickey Godwin III, Robert Gruber, Jeff James and Livian Jones.