2 min read September 2022 — In a conversation with Invest:, Donald Burgess, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, discussed the impact of COVID on the Chamber’s efforts and membership, the need to rebuild local infrastructure, such as roads, and the key areas of growth in South Florida.
What are some highlights for the Chamber over the last 12 months?
We have been emerging from COVID-related restrictions, so 2021 was a transition period for us. Our members had grown tired of virtual events and they wanted a return to in-person events. Even then, many people were upset that we had to enforce restrictions, such as wearing a mask, and we actually lost members because of that. We also lost members who expressed disappointment as we eventually moved away from imposing restrictions. We still have not regained our membership numbers from before the pandemic and that affects our revenue.
The recovery has not been the same for everyone. While it was a challenging time for us, the transition was successful because we were able to re-institute some of our best events, such as breakfasts and lunchtime networking events. The events side of our programming continues to be strong. We want to focus on re-growing our membership because many businesses closed and others just couldn’t afford the membership. We want to re-grow the numbers and our best strategy is to look attractive and relevant to the business community. We have found that quality events give us more inquiries about membership, so our focus will be to make the public see that There is lots of growth here with companies relocating and we are happy to see the interest. Many businesses want to relocate to South Florida and we want to ensure people take an interest in our area. We understand that this type of progress doesn’t take place in a vacuum. When a business comes here, they need employees, while others may bring employees with them. We have almost 120 businesses that relocated here in the past year. I want to make myself accessible to each and every member. That helps them to recognize the fact that I appreciate their value to the organization.
What industries in Palm Beach County are seeing the most growth?
Hospitality and tourism are huge here. Recently, we have become known as “Wall Street South,” which is mainly because several financial/investment firms have relocated here, but we also have a huge agricultural sector, with agri-businesses moving and establishing themselves here. Many people think of Palm Beach as a vacation location but there is a lot more to what we do.
How would you assess the entrepreneurial community in Palm Beach?
A lot of our members are larger businesses, but the majority of individual memberships are small businesses. Most of those that came to us for membership after the pandemic are in the real estate sector, but we also took on some attorneys, financial service entities, medical offices, non-profit organizations and hospitality/recreation services. We aren’t seeing many entrepreneurs with unique businesses. We do have a lot of members in the restaurant sector and we have huge representation in the legal and healthcare fields. Agriculture is one of the largest employers in the county but real estate is where the most interest is and it isn’t hard to imagine why. There is a lot of activity in that market.
What is your outlook for the Chamber over the next few years?
We saw an increase of almost 11,000 in the population. We are now working with other community leaders (government and private) to find and implement solutions to the shortfall in housing inventory. We are also aware that mobility will become an issue and this is being addressed.
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