As a member of the North San Antonio Chamber, I’m excited to share with you that our chamber will soon offer new resources to help you manage your chamber membership, market your business on the web and monitor online traffic to your content on northsachamber.com.

The North SA Chamber will be converting to a new member software application, Chamber Master – that will enable the chamber to better manage information, involvement and events – while offering you enhanced benefits.

Starting the first week of December, members will enjoy new website features and benefits that will help you: market your business in the Member Directory; add company social media and website links to your online directory listing; promote an event through the Member Calendar of Events; post RFPs or market your product/service through the MarketSpace online member store; recruit talent through a more robust Job Bank; advertise your product/service through public or member-to-member Hot Deals and much more. Learn more.

ATHENA Leadership Awards
Perhaps one of my favorite events is the Enterprising Women’s Conference – this year celebrating 25 years of leadership and professional development designed just for women and featuring the presentation of the ATHENA Leadership Awards®. About 200 women attended the all-day conference and enjoyed a keynote address by San Antonio’s Poet Laureate Dr. Carmen Tafolla, networking and shopping among 40 exhibitors. More than 400 guests attended the luncheon program. The ATHENA Young Leadership Award® was presented to Irene Maldonado with the University Health System. The ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award® was presented to Stephanie Chandler, Lauren Cimenello, Julia Mann and Elena Villaseñor Sullivan of Jackson Walker LLP. The ATHENA Leadership Award® was presented to Elizabeth Copeland with Strasburger & Price, LLP. Please join me in congratulating each of these deserving organizations, young and seasoned leaders for their professional accomplishment, community service and advancement of leadership opportunity for women.

To all who nominated an organization or an individual – thank you for taking the time to help recognize those who are making a difference in our community. As we plan for awards programs in 2015, please consider a supplier, customer or colleague who is worthy of an award nomination next year and look for nomination forms online later this year.

Leadership Lab Call for Nominations
It’s that time of year again. The North SA Chamber is seeking a diverse group of bright and dedicated individuals to participate in the 2015 Leadership Lab class. Leadership Lab is the North Chamber’s award-winning leadership academy featuring best-in-class testing, training and relationship building. The series includes interviews and selection in January, an orientation in February, a retreat in March and monthly full-day classes through November, culminating in a November graduation ceremony.

As your company is planning for the 2015 training and professional development budget, please consider Leadership Lab as a tool to cultivate your organization’s emerging leaders or to inspire seasoned managers or executives to a higher level of performance and community engagement.

Interested individuals must complete an application and submit it by Monday, December 1, 2014. Applicants will be selected for participation by the Leadership Lab alumni. Leadership Lab Program Brochure / Leadership Lab Application

Annual Gala
On behalf of the board of directors and executive committee, I invite you to join us for the biggest night of the year – the Annual Gala on Saturday, January 24, 2015, from 6 p.m. to midnight at the JW Marriott Resort. This event is a spectacular evening of elevated networking, entertainment and recognition as we welcome our incoming chairman, Rob Killen of Kaufman Killen, the 2015 board of directors, and honor our 2015 San Antonian award recipient, Dr. Ricardo Romo of The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Advocacy Alert: Support for Constitutional Amendment for Increased Funding for Transportation
A strong transportation infrastructure is fundamental to Texas’ quality of life and economic vitality, attracting new businesses and generating new jobs. According to the latest report of the 2030 Commission, approximately $6.1 billion per year in construction funding is needed to achieve “worst possible” transportation conditions and $9.5 billion per year is need to achieve “minimally competitive” transportation conditions.

Thus, the North San Antonio Chamber board of directors supports the proposed constitutional amendment to provide for the transfer of certain general revenue to the economic stabilization and state highway funds, and for the dedication of the revenue transferred to the state highway fund to be used only for developing public roads (not toll roads) and that those dedicated funds be allocated by the Texas Department of Transportation in a manner consistent with existing formulas to ensure that the entire state benefits from this additional funding. Whereas the proposed amendment would not fund fully the state’s overall transportation needs, it would be a key step toward securing critical funding for transportation projects in Texas. The proposed amendment will be on the November 4, 2014 ballot and we encourage you to vote in favor of the amendment that increases funding for transportation. Help to keep Texas moving!

Be a part of it.
Your North SA Chamber is hard at work with member volunteers planning and producing top quality professional development programming to help your business. On behalf of our staff and volunteer corps, I invite you to join a committee or attend an event to take advantage of the services your Chamber provides. You can learn more about various Participation Opportunities and upcoming Events online, or call the North SA Chamber at (210) 344-4848.