Chamber CONNECTion | Anniversary Edition!

OCTOBER - ANNIVERSARY EDITION OUR CHAMBER CELEBRATES 97 YEARS THIS WEEK! Birthdays are more than just a momentary pause in the calendar to celebrate – they are a grand opportunity to gather people together to recognize a significant milestone or achievement.

And do we love to celebrate at our Chamber!

From our various awards programs to Small Business Saturday to convening each month to honor our newest members, we love a reason to revel in our members’ glory.

All of our members are invited to then “walkabout” our downtown Friday morning as we stop in and say hello to current and prospective members.

If you are interested in joining us on Friday, please email us at info@coralgableschamber.org to reserve your spot!

And speaking of awards programs, don’t forget to nominate a great business in one of our 13 categories for this year’s Diamond Awards, presented by SouthState Bank.

This week, as we take a moment to honor our own 97th anniversary, we hope you will take time to join us in person, or send a congratulatory note on social media or just jump for joy.

Today, we honor that legacy and work collaboratively with partners, stakeholders and each of you so that we can continue the good work of our founder.

This week, there will be many activities, culminating with a Birthday Blitz on Friday, 10/14 at 10:14 AM.

IN THIS ISSUE:

When we were founded nearly a century ago by George E. Merrick, he had a vision of a business building organization that would be not only of service to our members, but to our community, as well.

Chamber Birthday Blitz

Page 1

Note From Chairman Thad Adams Page 2 Note From Mark A. Trowbridge

Page 3

City Beautiful Magazine

Page 4

Upcoming Events

Page 5

'22 -'23 Board + New Members

Page 6

October Calendar

Page 7

Sponsor Recognition

Page 8

coralgableschamber.org | CHAMBER CONNECTION | October - Anniversary Edition

THOUGHTS FROM OUR CHAIR I am so excited for the privilege to serve as this year’s Chair of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce. For the past 17 years, I have been engaged with this amazing organization in many ways and in many positions. As a result, I am convinced there is no better entity that serves and supports our business community in South Florida and beyond. As Mark Trowbridge says, “We punch above our weight!” Yes we do.

So, I selected All In as this year’s theme that I borrowed from the Chairman & CEO of my company, Allen Morris, as it happens to be the title of his new book. When we began putting together my theme and initiatives for the year, I kept coming back to all the different ways that we engage with our members and commit to a greater good. There are the obvious ones – our events and networking activities and committee meetings.

Then, there are the subtle ways, working behind the scenes with our stakeholders and partners as we advocate for your success. In essence, the work we do and the success we desire requires everyone to be ALL IN. So here is a summary of my priorities for this year:

THAD ADAMS

First, we all desire to see our economy in full recovery mode and focused on each of our businesses – your story, your success, your needs.

Our Chamber strives to be a best practice leader – but we are only as strong as our membership and its participation. In this moment of survive and thrive, we must maximize our recovery and future growth by doing business with one another. I propose a local business survey where we best understand your story, your needs, your formula for success. As a member of the City’s Economic Development Board, we are completing an economic study and finalizing our strategic plan so there is no better time to coalesce around common goals that put you – our businesses – front and center. This will not only help you grow, but it will inform us as to the best ways to recruit and retain companies that will elevate our entire business community and produce material financial, educational, health care, public safety and cultural benefits to the residents of Coral Gables.

CHAIR OF THE BOARD MANAGING PARTNER THE ALLEN MORRIS COMPANY

REAL ESTATE As a long-tenured real estate professional – and with the generous support of my team at the Allen Morris Company – we will endeavor to elevate the role of our realtor and broker community in the Gables. We will bring back our Broker Reception – in partnership with the City – and focus on ways we sell Coral Gables in a more targeted and tactical manner. We are convening a Real Estate Committee – led by Sara Hernandez of First Citizens Bank and my Chair-Elect - to work with strategic partners locally and around the state to educate, inform and raise the profile of our industry. It is an essential part of who we are – taking us back to our earliest days and George Merrick himself.

STRATEGIC PLAN At our Annual Conference , you heard from Convergent Non-Profit Solutions, the team who has been working with our Board, Committee Chairs and members on a new strategic plan for our Chamber for the past 6 months. As with any plan, it requires tremendous input and deliberate outcomes. Your voice has been essential – and it will continue to be as we raise the profile of our Chamber yet again in the greater South Florida community. We have taken great strides these past two years – even in the midst of a pandemic and challenging economic times – to take our rightful role as the leading Chamber in Greater Miami.

COMMUNITY OF EXCELLENCE We are focused to become one of the first communities of excellence – a highly respected national initiative that we as a Chamber have undertaken with our partners at Doctors Hospital/Baptist Health South Florida, the City and the Coral Gables Community Foundation. Last month, the President of the United States signed a law authorizing "Community” to become the seventh category of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards. The bill authorizes communities across the United States to apply for, and receive, the highest-level of recognition for quality and performance excellence using the Baldrige Criteria. The award is presented by the President himself. This multi-year endeavor is designed to get a better understanding of our community as a whole and think how we can work together to transform Coral Gables as we take a systematic approach to community performance.

There is no better time to do so as we look to recovery from a world-wide pandemic and economic uncertainty that has hit our community and local businesses especially hard.

MEMBERSHIP CAMPAIGN As an outgrowth of our COE efforts, we are pleased to announce that we will be designing and launching a Chamber-wide membership campaign this year. A homage to Chamber membership drives of the past, this very modern campaign will involve all of you as we seek to continue to grow – while helping you strengthen your businesses. My own father Larry Adams ran one of these during his tenure as a Chamber Chair with record setting fundraising results. Not only was it a fun and friendly competition, but it reminded the community of the Chamber’s role and relevance in serving as a voice for the business community at large. I hope you will embrace this opportunity with me. Over the years, we have evolved into a community of forward leaning, highly driven, laser focused business leaders. It is a calling card for the Gables and our Chamber today. Our Chamber, partners and members have the wherewithal to teach and be taught; lead and be led; charge forward and stand back; open our hearts and close the deal.

This is the very definition of being ALL IN! I can’t wait to get started and hope you feel the same!

Thank you!

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE | BIRTHDAY BLITZ WEEK Our Chamber turns 97 this week and we cannot wait to celebrate with you, our valued members and partners.

Ninety-seven is a major milestone for any human, pet, historic home, or multi-generation business, and while not as sexy as turning 95 or 100 – we are wedged delightfully in between.

It is also a great practice run for our Chamber’s centennial celebration which is now just a short three years away.

And celebrate we will with a week-long schedule of activities, beginning and ending with opportunities to gather and have fun.

MARK A. TROWBRIDGE

When George E. Merrick first conceived of our Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, he was also intensely involved in founding our City of Coral Gables, helping dream up the University of Miami, and creating civic organizations for both his mother, wife and himself.

As our founding Chairman, we honor Merrick each year with the George E. Merrick PRESIDENT & CEO Award of excellence, a coveted award that went to T. Gene Prescott, president of CORAL GABLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MTROWBRIDGE@CORALGABLESCHAMBER.ORG our beloved Biltmore Hotel this year. Past winners have included such community

notables as Arva Moore Parks McCabe, Betsey Adams, Ambassador Charles Cobb, the late Robert Fewell, Barbara Stein and elected leaders Bill Kerdyk, Jr., Chip Withers, the late Jim Barker, and Jim Cason. All possessed the very attributes of Merrick that make our City Beautiful shine – commit to education, beautification, the arts, historic preservation, thoughtful development, public service and more.

In the decades that followed Merrick’s service to the business community, our Chamber weathered many storms, including the Great Depression and Great Recession, a land boom and subsequent bust, multiple hurricanes (including the big one of 1926 and Andrew in 1992), changing attitudes toward suburban living, the arrival of an increasingly diverse workforce, and most recently, a world-wide pandemic that nearly closed our global economy for good. Yet, through it all we survived…and thrived.

Today, your Chamber is stronger than ever and boasts the largest membership in the tri-county area, along with a cadre of programs and services that outpace our peers. Having just completed our new five-year Strategic Plan, we are keenly aware of who we are and where we are headed. We set the pace for the present and future of membership-based organizations and are proud to lead from the front.

Finally, we hope you will join us on Friday (10/14) for our annual Birthday Blitz at 10:14 AM, a walk-about conceived nearly a decade ago to visit with local businesses of all shapes and sizes in their storefronts, restaurants, and offices. What a great way to get to know our Chamber even better, as well as our leadership and membership, than to pay a personal visit and offer our support. This group of dedicated leaders have helped elevate our Chamber for the past 97 years and we could not be more grateful to them.

In closing, 97 seems to be “our number” this year, as it not only celebrates our Chamber’s anniversary, but the age of Sir Winston Churchill Trowbridge when he passed late last month. We were together for nearly 13 of his 14 years and well, no one could have asked for a more faithful and dedicated companion to go through this journey called life. I am eternally grateful to each of you for your well wishes, sweets words and beautiful flowers commemorating on his loss.

Your kind compassion and true love is why we are the Chamber we are.

Happy Birthday!.

coralgableschamber.org | CHAMBER CONNECTION | October - Anniversary Edition

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!

PICK UP YOUR OWN COPY BY VISITNG OUR DOWNTOWN CORAL GABLES HEADQUARTERS

SAVE THESE DATES - UPCOMING EVENTS

2022 - 2023 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE & BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Chair of the Board Thad Adams, The Allen Morris Company Chair-Elect Sara M. Hernandez, First Citizens Bank First Vice Chair Addys Kuryla, Florida Power and Light Treasurer Audrey Otero, PNC Bank Parliamentarian Alina Menendez, American Airlines Immediate Past Chairman Ana Chaoui, Southstate Bank Vice Chairman-Global Business Affairs Deirdre Nero, NERO Immigration Law, P.L. Vice Chairman-Community Affairs Adrian Nunez, University of Miami Vice Chairman-Business & Economic Development Rick Alberty, Well Groomed Gentlemen Vice Chairman-Member Affairs Nguyen Cabanilla, ContactLink Vice Chairman-Special Events Lauren Dowlen, Lowell International Realty, LLC Vice Chairman-Gov’t & Legislative Affairs Maria Garcia, Kozyak Tropin and Throckmorton Trustee Council Chair Mitchell Mandler, SMGQ Law Chairman’s Appointee Jose Romano, Doctors Hospital President & CEO Mark A. Trowbridge BOARD OF DIRECTORS Greg Barnes, Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables Steven Bradley, Clutch Burger Giselle Breto, Best Practices Title, LLC Melissa Castro, M.E.D. Expeditors Amy Donner, Coral Gables Magazine Drew Kern, Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices EWM Realty Matthias Kammerer, The Biltmore Hotel Andre Luck, Miami Marlins Jorge Martinez, Florida Blue Cristina Miller, Intermedia Touch Rosanna Molinari Weber, Pita Weber Del Prado Rene Negron, Equitable Advisors, LLC Rosella Papale, Higgs Hubb Monique Selman, Albany Homes Construction Lillian Ser, Ser & Associates, PLLC Anabella Smith, Zyscovich Architects Arianna Urquia, Nicklaus Childrens Hospital Cinthya Urena, City National Bank of Florida Myrna Vaca, UHealth Jessica Wilcox, J. Wilcox Consulting EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS City of Coral Gables Vice Mayor Michael Mena City of Coral Gables Belkys Perez Business Improvement District Ari Bittel, Terranova Corp Coral Gables Community Foundation

Eric Grois-Dubois Miami-Dade Beacon Council James C. Kohnstamm

Welcome

TO OUR NEWEST CHAMBER MEMBERS + RENEWALS SEPTEMBER 2022

MEMBERS T-Mobile Amerihealth Home Care Agency Arlo Wynwood Cabanas Consulting Homexperience Ingage Biz Digital Marketing Laowai Enterprises LUMEN Construction Services LLC Montano-Miranda P.A. T-Mobile AMP Group Mental Health Services Space Coast Credit Union Ruth's Chris Steak House Debowsky Design Group Location Ventures Mayfair House Hotel & Garden Mutual of Omaha WE Staffing

RENEWALS

Jackson Health Foundation Albany Homes J. Wilcox Consulting Stephan Baker MD Codina Partners Keen Battle Mead & Company Rebeca Castellon PA The Saade Law Firm, P.A. Alcat Communications International LLC The Biltmore School Edward Jones Ultimate Medical Center Beasley, Demos & Brown, LLC Pena Garcia & Diz, PLLC G Alvarez Studio, Inc. ZOMMA Group, LLP Mutual of Omaha Advisors JP Morgan Chase & Co. Suddath Relocation Systems

Intermedia Touch

Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired Coral Gables Community Foundation Miami Dade College Eduardo J. Padron Campus Talavera Cocina Mexicana Integrity Wealth Advisory of Raymond James TD Bank Shops at Merrick Park Northwestern Mutual Coral Gables Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, P.A. VIM Wealth Management CrystalFi BARAKAT + BOSSA

*BOLD denotes new Trustee Member *BOLD denotes new GEM Member

coralgableschamber.org | CHAMBER CONNECTION | October - Anniversary Edition

CALENDAR | October 2022 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

August 25

26

27

28

29

30

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2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 AM | CONVERSATION WITH A CONSUL SERIES Featuring Ricardo Pedraza, ProColombia - VIA ZOOM-

9

10

11

YOM KIPPUR

9 AM | WOMEN’S BUSINESS NETWORK COMMITTEE MEETING

12

8 AM | BUSINESS & GOV’T AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING -in partnership with SMALL BUSINESS COMMITTEE

CHAMBER OFFICE CLOSED CORAL GABLES CHAMBER’S 97th BIRTHDAY

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12 PM | BUSINESS BOOK CLUB Featuring Marshall Jon Fisher, Author of “Seventeen and Oh” Miami, 1972 - VIA ZOOM-

14

8 AM | MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE MEETING

15 9 AM | CHAMBER ENGAGEMENT 101 - CHAMBER HQ -

BIRTHDAY BLITZ CELEBRATION 10:14AM

NOON | RE-CONNECT LUNCHEON @MORTON’S 5:00 PM | WIND DOWN WEDNESDAY @SushiMaki

16

17

18

19

11:30 AM | WOMEN’S BUSINESS NETWORK LUNCHEON @BAY 13 BREWERY

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25

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4 PM | IMPACT: A SEMINAR SERIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS @MORTON’S THE STEAKHOUSE Sponsored by Amerant Bank

26

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11:30 AM | TRUSTEE & GEM INVESTORS LUNCHEON @THE HYATT HOTEL

THE CORAL GABLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

GABLESCHAMBER

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7:30 AM | GOOD MORNING CORAL GABLES BREAKFAST @THE BILTMORE HOTEL

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29 10AM | ARCHITECTURAL WALKING TOUR

8 AM | BUSINESS & EDUCATION COMM. MEETING

CORAL GABLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

coralgableschamber.org | (305) 446-1657 | info@coralgableschamber.org

GABLESCHAMBER

SPONSOR RECOGNITION WIND DOWN WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER

SPONSORSHIP / INVESTOR HALL OF FAME Through December 2022 $5,000 & Above

Amerant Bank Equitable Advisors GOOD MORNING CORAL GABLES CHAMBER'S BOARD SEPTEMBER

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty SouthState Bank City of Coral Gables City National Bank of Florida Doctors Hospital, part of

WOMEN'S BUSINESS NETWORK LUNCHEON SEPTEMBER

Baptist Health South Florida Florida Blue UHealth Florida Power & Light

BUSINESS BOOK CLUB LUNCH & LEARN SERIES SPONSOR

PARTNER

$2,500 - $4,999

Home Financing Center, Inc. NERO Immigration Law, P.L. ANNUAL CONFERENCE

IMPACT SEMINAR SERIES SPONSOR

PARTNER

RE-CONNECT LUNCHEON SERIES SPONSORS

coralgableschamber.org | CHAMBER CONNECTION | October - Anniversary Edition