McKinney Chamber champions businesses in booming region

McKinney Chamber

champions businesses in booming region } By Caryn BErardI

According to residents, there are many reasons that McKinney, Texas, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country — a strong school system, historic and vibrant downtown and proximity to the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, to name a few.

But for Lisa Hermes, president and CEO of the McKinney Chamber of Commerce, the growth always comes back to the people.

“It’s all about neighbors helping neighbors and businesses helping businesses,” she said. “People who visit McKinney see what’s special about it and how the city represents the people who live here.”

Hermes returned to the McKinney Chamber as president in 2014 after beginning her Chamber career as its communications and public policy director in 2006.

During the years in between, she held leadership roles at other North Texas chambers, but jumped at the opportunity to bring her experience back to McKinney and lead the Chamber’s efforts to serve as the collective voice for the city’s growing business community.

McKinney is located 30 miles north of downtown Dallas, Texas, and is the county seat of Collin County. The Chamber focuses on helping its 1,200 members thrive through programming, leadership development, business idea incubation and advocacy. As companies grow and expand, so too does the economic impact on the city and its residents, Hermes said.

For example, she said there is a communitywide advocacy effort by the Chamber for more affordable housing to attract a more talented workforce for entry-level positions benefits both community members and businesses.

This kind of work has been a staple of the McKinney Chamber since its founding in 1914.

ADVOCATING FOR THE REGION

“The way we do things has changed over time, but you can read archives about the Chamber going down to Austin on horses to advocate for better roads,” Hermes said. “Now, we drive a car or take a plane, but we are still advocating for our region.”

On the programming side, networking and educational opportunities further the growth of its members. Chamber initiatives such as the Women’s Alliance of McKinney serve to foster relationships that empower, promote and support leadership in women from the corporate world to entrepreneurs through development opportunities such as a Lunch & Learn series and its annual daylong Women’s Business Conference.

Hermes credits the engagement of the McKinney business community and the Chamber’s volunteer board of directors for the success of these advocacy and programming initiatives and for the Chamber’s position as a catalyst for change in McKinney.

“Volunteers are investing their time, talent and treasure, and we are grateful for them,” Hermes said.

AN INTERESTING TIME TO LEAD

Julie Williams is chairman of the Chamber’s board of directors. She got involved in the Chamber when she and her business partner started a real estate company, Texas Property Sisters LLC, in McKinney in 2013.

It was important to their business to support the local community, such as purchasing from local vendors and getting involved with the Chamber. Williams participated in the Leadership McKinney training program sponsored by the Chamber and since then has taken on multiple leadership roles within the organization.

She became the chairman in January 2021 and described the timing of the new role as an interesting time to lead, as the Chamber aims to rebuild its membership after the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presented to the business community and continue to support its members that are still struggling, including a tailored initiative for the deeply impacted restaurant industry.

“My goal is to get us back on the growth path we were on before COVID-19 and assist companies however we can,” Williams said. “The Chamber is a really vital part of McKinney, and I’m so proud to be a part of it.”

In addition to COVID-19 recovery, Hermes and Williams want to continue building partnerships with stakeholders in McKinney, highlight the community to an external audience and advocate for all businesses through the Chamber’s diversity, equity and inclusion task force and diversification of the board.

These efforts include not only racial and ethnic diversity, but also industry and size of businesses, and goes back to the heart of McKinney itself, its people.

“We will continue to be a collective voice to convene the people of McKinney to engage and connect,” Hermes said. “We are building an inclusive group that celebrates and values everyone for what they bring to the table.” ¿

} Lisa Hermes (left), president and CEO, McKinney Chamber of Commerce, with the organization’s Chairman Julie Wiiliams

to learn More aBout the McKInney chaMBer oF coMMerce, vIsIt McKInneychaMBer.coM.

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