Naperville Illinois Chamber of Commerce - Presented by Village Profile

Village Profile Home Page | About our Company | Sales Opportunities | Community eStore | vpmobile.us

Naperville Chamber Information

The Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce has a long and successful history. Since its establishment in 1913 as the Naperville Association of Commerce, our organization has championed the improvement of the business community for the benefit of all and has helped to make the Naperville area a better place in which to live and work.

The Chamber’s future is also a bright one. We have recently completed a strategic planning process that has taken us more than a year. “Chamber 2020” will be a roadmap for the coming years, one that will see the Chamber turn 100 years old and push onward with a new vision, a revamped mission and an increasingly regional focus on our efforts.

It is also a future that will include new leadership. After some 11 years in this position, I’ll be stepping down at the end of 2007 to explore other challenges. Thanks to all of you for the opportunity to be of service to you — it was truly an honor. Now is a good time for the Chamber to have a new voice and a fresh perspective. You can be sure, though, that we’ll continue to be the place business people turn to for the guidance and opportunities they need to succeed.

Our recently-revamped mission statement reads, “Through the commitment and engagement of our Members, the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce provides leadership for the benefit of the diverse business community by promoting economic growth, advocating the interests of business, providing service and education to Members and community and meeting Members’ needs.”

What does that mean?

First, our organization could not be the successful, five-star accredited Chamber that it is without the vital contributions of time, talent and expertise of our more than 2,000 Members. We will continue to elicit those contributions. It is mutually beneficial for us to engage our Members and for our Members to get involved as best they can while they go about the business of business.

We recognize that we are a leader in what is becoming a more and more diverse business community with each passing day. We promise to reflect that diversity in our Membership, our Board of Directors, our programming and our culture, so that everyone can be included.

We will look to create an environment where businesses look to locate here, expand their roots here and, perhaps most importantly, stay here. A growing and thriving economy is good for us all.

Our legislative efforts on behalf of the business community will not only continue, they will become even more proactive. We have long had the ears of lawmakers in Naperville, DuPage County, Springfield and Washington, D.C., who look to us on important issues. Through our new political action committee, NACPAC, we can also actively endorse and financially support candidates and causes that are pro-business.

And we will continue to provide service and education to our Members and to the community and to meet the needs of our Membership. We will be the regional connection between business, community, the not-for-profit sector and government.

If it sounds ambitious, it is. We’re blessed with a wonderful place in which to live and work and the talents of thousands of Members and a hard-working staff and Board of Directors who can work together to make this vision a reality.

This Chamber has grown so much in the time since I first walked into our old offices above Lou Malnati’s Pizza on West Jefferson. We achieved our goal of 2,000 Members by the year 2000, moved into an exceptional suite of offices in the Main Street Promenade, increased the size and quality of our staff and leadership and have made great strides in turning what was once a small organization of shopkeepers and landowners into the second-largest Chamber of Commerce in Illinois.

The future is bright. If you’re not already a part of it, I urge you to do so. Together, we can do great things.