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2015 Annual ReportMission: Strengthen, promote and serve the business community.

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ANNUAL REPORT PRESENTING SPONSORS

ANNUAL MEETING PRESENTING SPONSOR

ANNUAL MEETING DIAMOND SPONSORSANNUAL REPORT DIAMOND SPONSORS

ANNUAL MEETING PLATINUM SPONSORS

ANNUAL MEETING DECORATION SPONSOR

ANNUAL REPORT PLATINUM SPONSOR

Thanks to our generous sponsors!

AimBank • Caprock Home Health Services, Inc.Center for Global Understanding

Goodwill Industries of Northwest Texas • Happy State BankSafety World • South Plains College • South Plains Mall

StarCare Specialty Health System • Walmart

ANNUAL MEETING GOLD SPONSORS

7B Building & Development • Atmos Energy • Covenant Health FirstCapital Bank • Lubbock Independent School District

Scarborough Specialties

AWARD SPONSORSParkhill, Smith & Cooper • Reagor Dykes Auto Group

Volunteer Center of Lubbock

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Administration

Lubbock Chamber members gained the opportunity to market their business and promote their commitment to the community through the 5th Annual Total Resource Campaign (TRC), “The Chamber’s Great-est Hits”. The campaign was comprised of Chamber member volunteers encouraging businesses to get involved and make connections while assisting them with choosing options best suited to meet the organiza-tion’s marketing needs. “The Chamber’s Greatest Hits” was led by Nick Atwood of MassMutual Southwest. Congratulations to Atwood for ex-ceeding the 2015 goal by more than eight percent. The 2016 campaign is chaired by Casey Doyle, Casey Carpet One and co-chaired by Marcus Young, United Supermarkets, LLC.

Business Development

Community Prayer Luncheon: Held on May 7 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, the speaker was Texas Tech Head Women’s Soccer Coach Tom Stone with entertainment provided by Christian Recording artist, Kenzie Walker. There were 520 people in attendance with 23 sponsors.

Business Expo: “Collaborative Connectivity” was the theme of the 2015 Business Expo, presented by American National Bank. The event drew over 7,500 visitors, 213 exhibitors and 41 sponsors. The popular business-to-business networking event incorporated a new feature “Chamber University: Expo Series” off ering free business seminars with resources and tips on social media, online presence and goal-setting, with an average of 24 attendees per session.

Hub City BBQ: The 14th Annual Hub City BBQ Cook-off , presented by Suddenlink, drew 108 teams and 93 sponsors. An estimated 8,000 at-tendees enjoyed great food, fun and music from headliner Dix Hat Band, as well as Lubbock’s own School of Rock and Mariachi Carino.

Hispanic Heritage Luncheon: Presented by Reagor Dykes Auto Group, the keynote speaker was Arcilia Acosta, President/CEO of CARCON In-dustries and Construction. New this year was a Speaker Sponsor, the Texas Tech University Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering. Entertainment was presented by Mariachi Carino and the National An-them was sung by Jaqueline Reyes, TTU Vocal Performance Major.

7th Annual Business Mercado: The Business Mercado was held on Octo-ber 14 at the Clarion Grande Park Hotel. The event celebrates business and culture, spotlighting Hispanic-owned and Hispanic run businesses as well as businesses looking to connect with the Hispanic market. Forty-six exhibitors and nearly 500 attendees enjoyed networking with each other and learning about new businesses focused on doing busi-ness with the Hispanic market. New this year were two free business seminars and a new time frame – starting at 1 p.m. wrapping up with a networking reception from 4-6:30 p.m.

Communications and Marketing

The Chamber continues to maintain various websites regarding topics such as grassroots advocacy and agriculture as well as LubbockChamber.com. Members can connect with the Chamber, Young Professionals of Lubbock and Imagine Lubbock Together on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Members are also able to share information via the Chamber’s monthly newsletter, Lubbock Business Network, or stay up-to-date with the latest Chamber events via the Monday Memo and various weekly emails.

With the continued use of social media to promote events, activities and accomplishments for the Chamber this is a strong avenue for us to get our message out to our members and the community.

There continue to be multiple opportunities to promote awareness of our member’s resources through sponsorship of our annual directory, website, newsletter or weekly e-blast. Additionally, the Chamber’s mobile website is available on smart phones, which allows additional opportunities for member accessibility and exposure.

Ambassadors: There are now more than 212 Ambassadors. This year the Chamber hosted more than 170 Ribbon Cuttings and around 15 Ground Breakings with an average of 25 Ambassadors at each.

Chamber Basics | Pizza with the President: This new member orientation was held four times this year with an average attendance of 40 people.

Business After Hours: Twenty-four of these networking events were held this year with an average attendance of 140.

Government and Community Relations

Government Relations: In September, the Lubbock Chamber of Com-merce hosted a State Legislative Forum in partnership with local state delegation including Senator Charles Perry, Representative John Frullo and Representative Dustin Burrows. Special guest legislators with 150 in attendance included Senator John Whitmire, State Representative John Smithee, State Representative Drew Darby and State Representa-tive Brooks Landgraf. The event was held in the conjunction with the Chamber’s State of the Texas Tech System Luncheon with 310 in atten-dance featuring Texas Tech Chancellor Robert Duncan, TTUHSC Presi-dent Tedd Mitchell and TTU President Duane Nellis.

The Chamber testifi ed before the City Council to endorse the City of Lubbock Oil & Gas Committees recommendations as written and to op-pose the doubling of well setbacks.

Hosted U.S. Representative Randy Neugebauer at a “Coff ee with the Congressman.”

Advocated on a number of federal issues including Trade Promotion Authority, Export-Import Bank, Patent Abuse Reform, as well as a bill providing states the fl exibility to protect small businesses from certain changes due to Obamacare.

Submitted offi cial comment in opposition to new ozone standards as well as voicing concerns and opposition to proposed changes in over-time regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Hosted a Legislative Appreciation Luncheon honoring U.S. Senator and Majority Whip John Cornyn with 220 in attendance.

Actively tracked and advocated on 36 specifi c pieces of legislation in the 84th Texas Legislature on issues including business property tax relief, energy, agriculture, water, education, transportation and tort re-form.

The Government Relations Committee hosted U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and State Outreach Director Jason Wright.

Hosted a Town Hall Meeting featuring Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar as he discussed the state economy and Texas business climate.

LubbockBusinessVotes.com and the Government and Legislative Aff airs News Clips E-bulletin (GLANCE) were redesigned for a new look and content enhanced to include real-time updates of changes in tracked legislation as well as copies of correspondence sent to lawmakers.

A Review of 2015

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Committees including Government Relations, Agriculture & Natural Re-sources and Transportation hosted briefi ngs with Senator Charles Perry, State Representative John Frullo and State Representative Dustin Bur-rows during the 84th Texas Legislature.

Accompanied U.S. Chamber Blue Ribbon Award Winners iaConsulting and Abbeville Dentistry to America’s Small Business Summit in Wash-ington DC. The visit included meetings with Senator John Cornyn, Con-gressman Randy Neugebauer and key staff on the House Ag Commit-tee and the House Ag Appropriations Committee.

Transportation: Participated in a Transportation Rally in Austin to roll out key transportation legislation resulting in Proposition 7 on the No-vember 2015 ballot.

Actively supported Proposition 7 by producing a video featuring local business leaders and hosting a news conference in partnership with lo-cal organizations including the Lubbock Association of Realtors, Ports to Plains Alliance, Plains Cotton Growers, West Texas Home Builders As-sociation, Texas Corn Producers, Lubbock Restaurant Association, Lub-bock Apartment Association, and from a regional standpoint, the High Ground of Texas organization.

Hosted a “Stand Up for Transportation Day” news conference in part-nership with Citibus and supporting partners Ports-to-Plains Alliance, Lubbock Association of Realtors, West Texas Home Builders Association, Lubbock Apartment Association, Plains Cotton Growers, Texas Corn Producers, Lubbock Metropolitan Planning Organization, City of Lub-bock and Lubbock County.

Agriculture: The Chamber hosted the Salute to Ag Luncheon in conjunc-tion with National Ag Day with featured speaker Texas Tech President Duane Nellis who addressed the importance of agricultural research. 200 were in attendance.

The 2015 Harvest Luncheon featured House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway and was held concurrently with the Southwest Council of Agribusiness Annual Meeting.

Supported Ag in the Classroom and Ag in the Bag through sponsor-ships.

Water-Smart Award Winners: Four member businesses were awarded the Water-Smart Award for their ways of conserving water. The winners included: Lubbock Country Club - Winter, Atmos Energy - Spring, Chick-fi l-A on University and Marsha Sharp Freeway - Summer, AimBank on Slide & Marsha Sharp Freeway - Fall.

Community Relations: The Chamber hosted 250 guests at the Cinco de Mayo Luncheon featuring Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, the Chamber partnered with Fergu-son Enterprises to host a Hispanic Heritage Reception.

There were fi ve Chamber University educations seminars during the year and those topics included: •Workplace Bullying •Customer Service •Workplace Law •Employee Health & Wellness •Leadership

Another favorite event was held in August, the Texas Tech Football Breakfast with 450 in attendance, which featured Texas Tech head foot-ball coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Workforce and Education: The Chamber hosted a Pre-K Impact on Business Luncheon with 125 in attendance, which featured Dr. Da-vid Anthony of Raise Your Hand Texas and a panel including Dr. Berhl Robertson, LISD Superintendent; Keith Bryant, Lubbock-Cooper ISD Su-perintendent; and Carolyn Simpson, Lubbock Area United Way Success by 6 Director.

The Chamber also launched a “Demand Occupation” study with the Chamber’s CEO Roundtable to gauge future workforce needs and facili-tate win-win solutions with educators.

Leadership

Leadership Lubbock: The 2015 class had 40 class members and con-cluded its class year with a graduation ceremony in December at the McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center. The 2016 class will have 45 class members, and will begin in January.

New Century Leadership: The 2014-2015 class had 43 students from 12 area schools, and concluded its year with a graduation ceremony on April 27, 2015. The 2015-2016 class has 45 students from 11 area high schools. This year’s class kicked off its year with a team building day at Spirit Ranch on September 30, 2015.

Young Professionals of Lubbock: YPL held its Twenty Under Forty Ban-quet on November 12, 2015. First Tuesday Networking events are held monthly, Lunch and Learn events are held quarterly, and one commu-nity service project is held every other month. We ended the year with over 255 Young Professional Members.

Membership and Investor Relations

Membership: More than 200 new memberships were obtained in 2015, pushing the amount of total number of members to more than 2,000.

Imagine Lubbock Together

The Imagine Lubbock Together (ILT) implementation eff ort continued throughout 2015 and the various task forces and groups have been fo-cused on carrying out the intent of the community-wide strategic plan. Some of the things that took page throughout the year included:

•Updated and redesigned the ILT Webpage.

•Developed a comprehensive plan to keep track of Key Ele-ment Area progress using a simplifi ed red/light green light symbol. The dashboard explains progress to the public through stakeholder presen-tations and the newly designed website.

•Published an opinion editorial in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journaldetailing the progress of major ILT projects

•Created a Canyon Lakes task force to formulate and implement a development plan for that area, using previous plans as a guide

•Completed a focus group discussing the potential designs of gateway welcome signs, to be funded by the Lubbock Association of Realtors, installed and maintained by the City of Lubbock

A Review of 2015

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•Facilitated meetings with Sugar Creek Capital, a fi rm interested in monetizing historic state tax credits for refurbishment of potentially historic properties in downtown Lubbock

•Created a collaborative eff ort between local non-profi ts working with homeless and the business community to work together to ad-dress this issue in Downtown Lubbock.

•Continued to monitor the progress of an upcoming feasibility study for a bicycle plan, as detailed in the Basic and Fundamental Ser-vices element of the ILT strategic plan

A Review of 2015 •Monitored the progress of the feasibility study to potentially build a multi-purpose arena, as detailed in the Arts and Culture element of the ILT strategic plan

•Supported Lubbock Power & Light in its eff orts to develop a long term plan for providing the community with reliable power by publish-ing an opinion editorial supporting the recently unveiled 2019 Solution in which the City of Lubbock will connect to the ERCOT power grid

•Supported the Lubbock United Neighborhood Association in its eff orts to develop stronger communities by facilitating meetings with key people and promoting the organizations events

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

CHAIRMANJay Jacobus – Scarborough Specialties, Inc.

CHAIRWOMAN – ELECTBeth Bridges – South Plains Mall

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRWOMANAlona Beesinger – Suddenlink

TREASURERDiannah Tatum – Sanford & Tatum Insurance Agency

SECRETARYEddie McBride – Lubbock Chamber of Commerce

VICE CHAIRMAN – COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETINGScott Fagin - First United Bank

VICE CHAIRMAN – GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY RELATIONSDavid Park – Atmos Energy

VICE CHAIRMAN – LEADERSHIP AND MEMBERSHIP & INVESTOR RELATIONSGabriel Vitela – Twisted Root Burger Co.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Carmen Aguirre – Children’s Advocacy CenterSharon Hyde Bass – Volunteer Center of LubbockRon Betenbough – Betenbough HomesKeith Bryant – Lubbock-Cooper Independent School DistrictMichael Calvillo – Michael Calvillo Bail BondsAbel Castro - FirstBank & Trust Co.Renee Davis – Alderson/Mercedes-BenzLinda Gaither – WestMark REALTORS - Gaither/Ratcliff Jeff Horn – Benchmark Business SolutionsClayton Isom – Isom CompanyChris James – United SupermarketsBrent King – UMC Health SystemChris Lonngren – Schlotzsky’sDave Marcinkowski – The Madera CompaniesKathy Oaks – American Cancer SocietyRichard Parks – Covenant HealthBill Patton – Robison, Johnston & Patton, CPAsTony Pena – FirstCapital BankTim Perrin – Lubbock Christian UniversityCathy Pope – StarCare Specialty Health SystemCory Powell – TTU Division of Institutional Diversity, Equity & Community EngagementDr. Berhl Robertson – Lubbock Independent School DistrictFrank Silvas – AFLAC-Frank SilvasPolly Vann – V-tech Environmental ServicesChuck Walker – FirstCare Health PlansConnie Wharton – Consultant

Executive Committee & Board of Directors

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CHAMBER STAFF

Eddie McBride, IOM – President/CEO

Norma Ritz Johnson, CCE, IOM – Executive Vice President-Government

and Community Relations

Sheri Nugent, IOM – CFO and Vice President-Administration

Christye Weld – Vice President-Business Development

Tammi Boozer – Vice President-Communications and Marketing

Amy Marquez, IOM – Leadership Director

Allison Cottrell – Education Director

Cathy Potter – Member Relations Director

Haily Assiter – Marketing Specialist

Haley Howey – Event Specialist

Stevie Poole – Government and Community Relations Specialist

Patsy Moff ett – Administrative Assistant/Offi ce Coordinator

Patricia Picon – Accounting Assistant

Melinda Rodriquez – Customer Service Representative

Peyton Waldrip – Graduate Intern

Maegan Hruby – Intern

AWARDS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Chamber received an Award of Excellence from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives 2015 Awards for Communication Ex-cellence. The Chamber was honored in the advertising and marketing category for its 2015 Health Connect and Private Exchange Implemen-tation campaign. Also earned was a fi rst place Texas Chambers of Com-merce Executives Media Award in the Marketing Campaigns for the same Health Connect and Private Exchange Implementation campaign.

Eddie McBride serves on Board of Directors for the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, the Chairman of the Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives, Texas Association of Business and Covenant Health. Norma Ritz Johnson serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Association of Business.

Chamber Staff

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PROUD SUPPORTER OF THE LUBBOCK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

VISIT ONE OF OUR 8 LOCATIONS TODAY!

4th Street4827 4th Street806-784-4000

66th Street6500 Indiana Avenue806-767-6600

82nd Street5120 82nd Street806-767-8200

86th Street8232 University Avenue806-474-3000

98th Street4505 98th Street, Unit 100806-798-9810

Avenue Q1401 Avenue Q806-767-7000

N. University114 University Avenue, Suite 100806-767-7240

Texas Tech103 Student Union Building806-740-3400

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