2006 Annual Report

IMAGINE ANDERSON, Just Imagine! Within my 54 years Anderson has become a community that my grandparents and parents could not have imagined. Within that time we have changed dramatically, from a farming and textile town with service businesses to support those two main industries to a retail and healthcare hub for a 7 county-two state area with an international industrial community. We have changed from a community where almost everyone that lived here was born here to a diverse destination community not only attracting new residents from throughout the United States, but increasingly from other countries. IMAGINE ANDERSON, who could have?

This past year your Chamber of Commerce has shepherded a project designed to do just that – IMAGINE ANDERSON, A Plan for Anderson County; Our Community. This “vision” of our community in the year 2026, our 200 th birthday, will be unveiled in February. It will present us with many challenges and many opportunities. Through a broad based process that attempted to touch every corner of our community we have a vision of what the citizens in this community imagine for our future, the question is how to make the journey. As a business community, we must be prepared to lead Anderson County toward the destination of our vision. Your Chamber of Commerce will do its part, but every one of us, every person, every business, and every organization must become involved.

IMAGINE ANDERSON was just one of the many activities of your Chamber during the past year, in truth; it was its own effort in addition to all of the other activities of the Chamber. Through 26 different committees under 5 different councils we have worked diligently to create an environment for healthy economic growth in Anderson County while providing superior value for our members. One of the highlights of this past year was hosting business and community leaders from the Greenville and Spartanburg Chambers during the Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Dinner at the Civic Center of Anderson.

The Anderson/Clemson Alliance presented the second annual Zoom Zone Showcase for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing which grew to an international event this year through the creation of a partnership with AMETVS of Canada. During this three day event in November, 22 Canadian companies joined over 28 regional companies and organizations to share information and hopefully form relationships that will benefit everyone involved. Participation in this project and participation in the purchase of the Clemson Research Park by the Anderson County Development Partnership were major efforts by the Chamber to foster economic development in Anderson County.

During this past year much has been accomplished by your Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, but the work doesn’t stop. In our competitive world there is not time to rest. The future is coming, Just Imagine, IMAGINE ANDERSON.

James B. (Jim) Broyles, PE
2006 Chairman of the Board

Top of Page | Back a Page