The Voice is Yours

Every four years, our nation endures a rigorous presidential campaign to choose a leader. We must consider the challenges facing our country and what the priorities should be to move us forward towards growth and prosperity.

 

As you prepare to vote, we’re working to prepare our region’s business agenda, and we’re taking the political discourse in this campaign seriously, because public policies have a direct impact on our economy. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce has served as the “Voice of Business” since 1904, advocating for a competitive business climate at all levels of government. We dedicate significant resources of time treasure, and talent to confront today’s economic, legislative, and regulatory challenges.

 

The Chamber’s mission is to make the Chicago area the most business friendly region in the nation, which requires us to take positions on policy issues and support candidates for state and local elections through our Political Action Committee (PAC). As a member of the Chamber, you can help set our Legislative Agenda. Please click here to take our brief Legislative Agenda Survey.

 

This marks the 21st year the Daniel H. Burnham Award for Distinguished Leadership has been given, and over these two decades, it has come to symbolize the importance of civic involvement and has served as a reminder of how Chicago thrives with a fully engaged business community.

 

Costello truly personifies these qualities as a Chicago business leader, which is why she was selected for this prestigious honor.

 

The Chamber and the SBDC kicked it off Tuesday morning with the Access to Capital Panel Luncheon, bringing together experts from important sectors of the corporate finance market to discuss angel investing, business credit, commercial banking, crowd funding and more.

 

Economic downturns create fantastic opportunities for those who appreciate the long term potential in capturing and keeping customer loyalty. Communication of your brand during rocky economic times becomes even more vital and imperative but ultimately results in increased sales (and if “rocky” doesn’t begin to describe the past several years, what does?)

 

A McGraw-Hill Research study found that businesses during the last notable recession of 1981-1982 who maintained or increased their advertising dollars actually averaged higher sales growth during the recession and in the three years that followed. Three years later, sales of these same “aggressive” marketers were over 256% over those who had cut back. 256%!