Dear members,

We’ve kicked off our new fiscal year at the Chamber of Commerce, and I’m proud of the work of our past two Board Chairs, Stephanie Mitrione and John Carr, as well as the leadership of our President and CEO, Noel Martinez, in guiding us through the pandemic and delivering continued prosperity to our organization and our region.

Notable achievements include an enhanced Chamber team with three new team members joining us this summer, record results and positive reviews for our signature ArtiGras Fine Arts Festival, and reconstituted and revitalized committees focused on education, health care and life sciences and sustainability. For the second year in a row, through sound management and your support, we’ve been able to replenish our financial reserves, placing our Chamber on sound footing for future challenges and opportunities.

Our Government Affairs Committee has continued in its role as a thought leader for our community, and our Executive Trustees program continues to delivery unparalleled opportunities to meet with local and statewide leaders in education, politics, and service across the board. Our Chamber has also led the region by securing funding for and leading the effort to create a unique Disaster Resiliency Action Plan, and now by working together with the 10 municipalities in our Chamber’s footprint, and our other stakeholders, to implement it throughout the County. Our Palm Beach North branding initiative has been relaunched with a new look, and our Chamber Foundation once again gave out $25K in scholarships to local high school seniors.

Our Chamber is now working on refreshing its Strategic Plan for our region, which currently emphasizes a prosperous economy, high quality of life, smart and connected regions, and regional leadership, in order to fulfill our region’s promise well into the next decade.

I’m honored to serve as Chairman of the Board of this great organization and to continue our focus on education, engaging your help in assuring that every school in the North County is “A-Rated,” and delivering K-12 lab schools to educate our youth, in affiliation with our area colleges. We will also continue to lead in the areas of transportation and resiliency, to deliver the benefits that will be afforded to our region through interconnectedness and smart application of technology and innovation. Of extreme importance to me is assuring the continued diversification of our membership; encouraging our members and our Board of Directors to invite as guests to our events those that might not otherwise have been exposed to the benefits of our organization; those that may have backgrounds, world orientation or skin pigmentation that may be different than theirs, and those that might worship on a different day or in a different way than they do – ensuring a more inclusive and diverse community and organization.

We will continue to work hard on, and to serve as a resource for small and all businesses, assuring ROI for their continued support and membership. We also hope to assure through our continued advocacy, a return to civility in public discourse. As custodians of the future of the greatest nation on earth and the voice of our community’s business interests, we must lead by engaging our elected officials to assure a return to civility.

Far more unites us than divides us, and we’ll all be more prosperous and successful by employing the wise adage of “do unto others,” treating everyone we interact with the way we would wish to be treated if the roles were reversed.

Thank you for your continued support of our Chamber, and I look forward to continuing to work with each and every one of you in the coming year.

Dave Markarian

Chairman of the Board, Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce