3 min read April 2024 — In an interview with Invest:, Bill Russell, president and CEO of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce, talked about the events and tools it offers to support its members. He also shared the initiatives that the chamber has implemented to support female and minority business owners and the advantages that North Carolina offers compared to other states with tax disadvantages and more stringent business regulations.
What are some of the most significant milestones and achievements for the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce in the past year?
We had a fantastic year. Most people joined the chamber of commerce for networking events, and we held 98 of them in 2023. That accounts for two networking events a week, so there are a lot of opportunities for businesses to get together and share. We also had 52 ribbon cuttings as new businesses opened their doors in the area in addition to 39 professional development seminars for our members. Our businesses need tools in their toolbox to be effective, so offering almost one seminar per week was good.
We also signed up close to 200 new members into our chamber. Throughout 2024 we will concentrate on returning that investment to those new members and everyone involved with the chamber.
What is the strategy of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce to support the area’s vision for sustained growth and investment?
We have tremendous partners. The Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce works in close partnership with Lake Norman Economic Development and Visit Lake Norman. Those organizations focus on economic development and travel and tourism, respectively, while the chamber focuses on business and commerce. We work primarily with the smaller businesses as they are the backbone of every community.
Our chamber spun off Visit Lake Norman in 2000. That is the travel and tourism agency for this area and it is tasked with filling up hotel rooms and restaurants and bringing amateur sports. We also created the Lake Norman Economic Development in 2003. The chief role of the organization is to lobby for job creation in our area by attracting organizations like Southwire, MSC, Rubbermaid, and Lowes as well as growing existing businesses and making sure that companies can expand their campus and add jobs.
What diversity, inclusion, and equality initiatives is the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce implementing within the local business community?
That is a strong point for us. In 2008, I attended an event of the Association for Chamber of Commerce Executives and heard about the initiatives that other chambers of commerce were implementing. We then brought back home the concept of creating a diversity council, which we created that same year. Our focus was to get women business owners more involved and engaged in the chamber. We also created the Lake Norman Women’s Conference over 10 years ago, which is usually attended by around 200 women and has all-female speakers.
We have shifted gears in the last few years to make sure that we also engage other racial bodies and demographics. Last February, we celebrated Black History Month with some of our local people talking about the historical attractions in our area. That included representatives from some of the oldest African American communities within our region. We also had Asian Heritage Month last year where we focused on getting the Pacific and Asian businesses to come and speak as well as Hispanic Heritage Month. It is all about bringing a cultural awareness of other communities and demographics that comprise our workforce.
What kind of challenges has a macroeconomic environment shaped by high-interest rates and inflationary pressures brought to the local business community?
In North Carolina, we do not have the tax disadvantages and business regulations that are imposed in other parts of the country. It is a right-to-work state, so we do not have to deal with unions and other things as other communities. Additionally, our tax rate is manageable for businesses. Nevertheless, from time to time we see town councils or the county council get into issues that begin encroaching on business regulation, which we try to mitigate.
Additionally, we are seeing the effects of raising wages in places like California, where fast-food workers are being laid off. There is a cause and effect. When you raise the cost of employment, that raises the cost of the product. Fortunately, we do not have that in North Carolina quite as bad. This is still a good state to start and operate a business.
What are the key advocacy priorities for the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce?
There are some big items there. In 2023, we had a $2.6 billion school bond in Mecklenburg County. Some members of our chamber of commerce supported that as well as other more conservative ones who felt that it was too big of a bond. I do not think a $2.6 billion bond takes care of all the educational needs that we have in this county. We are replacing schools that were built during the FDR administration, and are now building new ones.
The chamber also got behind transportation and a parks and recreation bond for Huntersville. Additionally, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) has hosted public workshops to discuss the Red Line, which is a transit line that would run from Charlotte to Mooresville, and is encouraging public discussion. We advocated for that line 20 years ago and hope to see progress there or another transportation solution that fits the area’s needs.
Another issue that has been close to our hearts for the past 20 years is the need for a magistrate for North Mecklenburg. Currently, if a domestic violence issue occurs in Davidson, people need to go to Charlotte to get a restraining order and come back. Similarly, if somebody gets a DUI in Davidson, they need to be taken in and processed in Charlotte. There has been funding to address that, but they still need to work out some of the issues relative to how it will work.
What factors help the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce stand out from other chambers of commerce?
Our chamber of commerce is regional, so we do not represent just one community. We cover Cornelius, Davidson, Denver, Huntersville, and Mooresville, and we are spread out along Lake Norman. We have 850 members and, like most chambers of commerce, we promote those members.
What are your outlook and key priorities both for the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce and the town of Lake Norman in the next couple of years?
Transportation infrastructure is going to be something that we continue to look at. If you drive around Lake Norman, you will see a lot of orange barrels as we are doing transportation improvement projects such as new roads and maintenance. We also have a new hospital opening in Cornelius where Atrium Health is building a new hospital there that will address healthcare issues we have. Cornelius also opened the Cain Center for the Arts a year ago.
In terms of education, we are chasing the tiger’s tail with the schools. We cannot catch up to what we need in terms of educational infrastructure, so that will be huge. They are not making any more land, so elected officials and chamber people are using our land resources as judiciously as possible. The chamber is advocating for vertical growth as growing horizontally takes up more space.
Regarding our membership, we need to make sure that we are returning the investment of our members. When people joined a chamber of commerce back in 1960, they did it as a civic thing to give back to the community. In 2024, when someone joins a chamber, they want to know what they are getting out of it and see some kind of return on their investment. They want to make sure that we are sending them business and providing the resources they need to be competitive.
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