Nashville’s GLBT Chamber of Commerce board of directors recently met and set goals and direction for the budding business organization. 

NGLBTCC President John Wade established committees and outlined areas of growth and direction for the upcoming year. He also presented his findings from his recent “listening tour” which he said he incorporated into plans for the upcoming year. 

“I took the information that I gathered from the listening tour and divided it into four areas so that board members and committee members can use it as a road map for future growth and also to address some immediate concerns,” Wade said. “It's impossible to convey the enthusiasm with which this information has been expressed to me. People have been very positive and supportive of the direction we're taking the organization.”

Those areas – membership, events, marketing, and programming – have become the cornerstone of a new committee system that Wade has implemented. Each board member will serve on a particular committee, along with other members of the chamber.

The membership committee is headed by Teresa Aguilar and will focus on establishing a new member campaign. Aguilar was not able to attend the board meeting so no other action had been taken at press time.

The marketing committee is chaired by Michael Fluck. Other committee members include Wade, Diane Neel, Jerry Jones, Laramey Lawson, Brent Meredith, Lane Scoggin and Eddie Lightsey. The group will work on a new mission statement, a new logo, Web site content and a new look for the NGLBTCC business page in Out & About Newspaper.

The programming committee is chaired by Amos Gott, who is joined on the committee by Gary Gaston, Brad Pinson and Angel Brown. Additional committee members will be named soon. That committee will focus on three areas for programming: community awareness, business building and social networking. The committee also plans to start a “lunch series” and a political meet and greet reception. The committee recommended to the full board that the regular meeting time of the NGLBTCC be changed to reflect a social networking period from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., and a program hour from 6 to 7 p.m. The board approved the change.

The events committee is chaired by Shane Burkett, who is joined by David Lazarus, Rick Harris and Chris Nadeau. Additional members will be announced soon. The committee recommended holding an annual awards dinner and has started work on the 2007 GLBT Business and Life Expo.

“I was ecstatic at the work that we accomplished at our board meeting,” Wade said. “It’s going to be a very exciting year for the NGLBTCC.”

The board meeting was held at the Radisson Hotel in Donelson, courtesy of the hotel and its general manager, John Reynolds.