TAMPA, FL – The South Tampa Chamber held its annual meeting and awards dinner on March 3, 2022, at Peter O. Knight Airport.
After recounting some of the chamber’s achievements from the past year including adding nearly 140 new members, hosting more than 60 events, and participating in 30 ribbon cuttings to celebrate new businesses, the chamber’s 2021 Chair of the Board, Chris Bentley, passed the gavel to 2022 Chair Rebekah Nault.
Nault said that the chamber’s focus for 2022 will be to increase DEI initiatives, to recenter their focus on transitioning military employment, and to advocate on behalf of local businesses.
The chamber has already recruited more than 30 new members in the new year and hosted several sold-out events. The chamber’s board will also be facilitating the creation of a new strategic plan to act as a road map for the chamber over the next 5 years.
At the event, CFO Associates was recognized as the chamber’s Small Business of the Year and Tampa Veterinary Hospital was awarded Large Business of the Year.
The Business of the Year Awards recognize and honor chamber members that have demonstrated leadership, positive growth, development, and integrity in operation as a business, as well as a commitment to the community. Earlier this month at a separate event, Dr. Charles Lockwood, Dean of USF Health, was named the 2022 Citizen of the Year.
The chamber’s CEO, Kelly Flannery, gave a brief history of the chamber and unveiled the chamber’s new logo.
“We started talking about the chamber, all that we have accomplished over the past ten years and where we are headed. The energy. The excitement. The sense of community. Some of the things that make South Tampa such a special place are the same things that make our chamber stand out from the rest. And our current branding did not represent that,” said Flannery.
Flannery added “We saw dozens of logos over the following months. But when we saw this one, we knew. We wanted to make sure we did our due diligence and took member feedback into account. We presented various logos to our board, ambassadors and community partners as we made our final decision.”
The new logo features strong and vibrant colors with a sun and steam ship embedded in the O. The sun can be rising or setting representing consistency and the promise of a new day. The water represents Tampa Bay with waves in motion moving our community forward. The steam ship represents the chamber’s beginning in Port Tampa. The logo was designed by Dave Gutcher, a past chamber board chair, who also designed the chamber’s former logo that has been used since 1999.
The new logo will be placed on the building at the chamber’s new location on Bay to Bay Blvd. later this month. The chamber will also be releasing a new magazine and website in the coming weeks.
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