The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce

For 60 years, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce has worked to promote the business, educational, and cultural resources in the county. The Chamber has almost 3,000 members representing all types of businesses.

Chamber membership offers many advantages to companies that want to grow their business. Network Gwinnett, held on Thursday and Friday mornings, offers a chance to interact and share leads with other Gwinnett businesses. The chamber also holds a monthly Business After Hours, an annual Business in Gwinnett Trade Show, the Gwinnett Chamber Challenge golf and tennis tournament in October, and forums ranging from technology to education, to governmental affairs.

The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce
6500 Sugarloaf Parkway
Duluth, GA 30097
Phone: (770) 232-3000. Fax: (770) 232-8807
Email: info@gwinnettchamber.org

Chamber Website    Calendar of Events

News from the Gwinnett Chamber

Chamber announces Small Business Winners in Advance of Pinnacle Awards Ceremony

The Gwinnett Chamber annnounced the top 25 small businesses of they year in the county. The announcement comes in advance of Small Business Week, and the Chamber's annual Pinnacle Awards Dinner on April 17th.

In addition to awarding Gwinnett’s top 25 small businesses with the 2008 Pinnacle Small Business Awards, the Gwinnett Chamber and Presenting Sponsor Haven Trust Bank will also announce the Small Business Persons of the Year for three categories (1 – 9 employees; 10 – 99 employees; and 100+) as well as the overall Gwinnett Small Business Person of the Year winner that will move on to compete for the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Person of the Year for Georgia.

The following companies were selected from more than 300 nominations as Gwinnett’s Top 25 Pinnacle Small Business Award Winners, based on steady and above average growth and profitability, growth in number of employees, contributions to the community, overcoming adversity, original entrepreneurship and more:

Allgood Pest Solutions
William "Perry" Tindol

Alpha Graphics
Jodi Pierce

CTR Partners, LLP
Kevin Murray

E2E Resources, Inc.
Raymer M. Sale Jr.

Formetco, Inc.
Larry Garrett

Green Financial Resources, LLC
Roger S. Green

Hayes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Inc.
Mike Hayes

Hire Dynamics
Dan Campbell

Husky Foundations, Inc.
Matt Gottlich

Jordan, Jones & Goulding Inc.
Charles A. Button

Kart Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Kart's Landscape Services
Gary Kart

MasterWorks
Bernie Smith

Mathias Corporation
Dave Heydinger

McMahan's Sartorial Clothing
Travis Giles

MNdustries
Michael E. Nance II

Nanston, Inc.
Kyle E. Anderson

Nexus Financial Group, Inc.
Brian Peart

Ordner Construction Company
Dave Ordner

Redpepper
Dave McMullen

Russell Landscape Group, Inc.
Teddy Russell

Salon 124
Brian Perdue

Sanders Financial Management
Emily Sanders

Staffing Resources
Angelo & Debbie Harris

US Work Alliance d/b/a Exam Services
Tyler Long

Veristor Systems Inc.
Ashby Lincoln

Chamber Updates “Success Lives Here” to Promote Gwinnett Globally

The Chamber's "Success Lives Here" brand will soon be exposed to far more people than those seeing it on the water tower along Interstate 85. The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce recently unveiled the brand's new look, and plans to use the brand in a campaign to attract targeted industries to Gwinnett.

The campaign will promote Gwinnett’s “successes” in a variety of areas: strength in job creation and specific clusters, an affordable and prosperous quality of life, a highly educated workforce and acclaimed educational institutions, competitive incentive program, and business-friendly environment.  It will target site consultants and decision makers for Gwinnett’s five targeted industries: Information Technology; Advanced Communications; Life Science and Healthcare; Logistics; and Regional and Corporate Headquarters for Professional Services.

“Success Lives Here already had a strong foundation and great brand equity in Gwinnett and the metro Atlanta region,” said Nick Masino, Vice President of Economic Development for the Gwinnett Chamber. “We wanted to utilize that strength to fuel momentum for national and global recognition in the years to come with strategic economic development messages for our targeted industries.”

Gwinnett Chamber 2007 In Review

The Gwinnett Chamber made great strides forward in 2007. Here are some of its accomplishments:

Economic Development

• Launched the Partnership Gwinnett Economic and Community Development Strategy with key public and private community partners at a high visibility press conference with Lt. Governor Casey Cagle at the State Capitol. The initiative will generate more than 65,000 net new jobs and $5.8 billion in new wealth over the next five years.
• Secured nearly $6 million in commitments since July 1 for Partnership Gwinnett and used these funds to leverage an additional $500,000 in State grants for local economic and community development efforts.
• Worked on more than 30 major relocations and expansions including those of Meggitt Training Systems fats/caswell, Horizon Software International, Scientific Atlanta, A Cisco Company, Peak 10, and Time Warner. These efforts resulted in thousands of new high wage jobs and hundreds of millions in new capital investment.
• Staffed one of the largest economic development departments in the Southeast with business development experts in the fields of Advanced Communications, Information Technology, Health Care, Distribution and Trade, and Regional and Corporate Headquarters.
• Launched the television format of VISION: The Voice of Economic Development for Gwinnett County.

Public Policy and Community Development

• Created the Chamber’s first Legislative Agenda and Transportation Strategy focusing on investments in water and transportation infrastructure, education and workforce, small business and economic development, and quality of life issues.
• Using the Governor’s Certified Work Ready Community program, we partnered with the County, Gwinnett Technical College, Georgia Gwinnett College, and Gwinnett County Public Schools to match life science industry workforce needs with the curriculum of students.
• Led the Chamber’s largest delegation to date on the Strategic Leadership Visit to Collin County, Texas to study best practices in economic development, transportation, arts and tourism, revitalization, and minor league baseball and soccer.
• Hosted the largest Principal for a Day program in Georgia with Gwinnett County Public Schools, placing more than 100 senior executives and CEOs from our Board and Chairman’s Club into local schools and creating our first-ever waiting list.
• Organized and led Georgia’s largest Chamber sponsored delegation on our annual Washington DC Fly-In to discuss important federal issues affecting Gwinnett.
• Became an active participant of the steering committee and helped craft legislative recommendations for Get Georgia Moving - a coalition of organizations from across the state pursing statewide transportation funding solutions.
• Led the effort in Gwinnett to rally business support for Delta’s successful bid to secure an air route to Shanghai, China.
• Hosted three Presidential Candidates at our Government Affairs Forums: Senator Fred Thompson, Governor Mitt Romney, and Governor Mike Huckabee.
• Attracted more than 800 nominations for Leadership Gwinnett and graduated its 22nd class in May. There are now more than 750 alumni.

Membership and Business Development

• Named and honored as one of the top three large chambers in the United States by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) for organizational strength, growth and economic and community development initiatives.
• Hosted more than 320 networking and business development events attended by more than 35,000 participants.
• Coordinated more than 150 ribbon cuttings & groundbreakings.
• Added more than 850 new general members and 70 new Chairman’s Club members.
• Launched the Small Business University with a focus on assisting both start up and growth stage small businesses in the areas of marketing, finance, legal issues, succession planning, operations, human resources, and more.
• Launched the new Pinnacle Small Business Awards Gala, honoring Gwinnett’s top 25 small businesses and naming Canvas Systems as Gwinnett’s Top Small Business of the Year.

Chamber Launches Partnership Gwinnett

The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and title sponsor Scientific Atlanta, along with partners in government, education, healthcare and business are conducting an effort to provide a long-term strategic community and economic development plan known as Partnership Gwinnett.

"Partnership Gwinnett: A Shared Vision for the Future" is expected to develop a consensus vision for Gwinnett’s future growth and an action plan to achieve it. The effort is being conducted to complement Gwinnett County's 2030 Unified Plan, which will be used by county officials to define future land use, infrastructure, and transportation needs.

At the end of the six month process, Gwinnett will receive the foundation of a long-term strategic community and economic development plan from Market Street Services, one of the nation’s leading economic development consultants. The project deliverables will include an Economic and Demographic Profile, Competitive Assessment, Target Business Analysis, Community and Economic Development Strategy, and Implementation Plan.

Gwinnett Chamber Offers Free Small Business Advice from SCORE

Small business seeking advice on topics including writing a business plan, determining startup capital requirements, cash flow management, and assessing market potential for a new product or service can take advantage of free, confidential, advice offered by SCORE -- the Service Corps of Retired Executives.

SCORE counselors provide insight into how to start and operate a business, buy a small business or franchise and sell a business. They help prospective and established small business owners and managers identify problems, determine the causes and find solutions. SCORE counselors provide experience and operating expertise in financing, accounting, business planning, sales and marketing. Clients are matched with experienced counselors in a comparable line of business.

SCORE representatives are at the Chamber daily from 10 AM to 1:30 PM. For more information, call 770-232-3000.