Message from the Chamber Chair

Message from Chairman of the Board

DEAR CHAMBER FAMILY,

Welcome to, what I believe to be, the greatest chamber in Illinois! We are excited and grateful to have you and your business in our midst and in our communities. I call you my chamber family because the Oswego Area Chamber of Commerce is much more than just a group of professionals who see each other at events and try to sell one another. In our chamber true relationships, networking, and looking out for one another takes place. I’m so proud of what’s been accomplished and what we’ve persevered through these last few years. I’ve witnessed our chamber firsthand weather the storm of a worldwide pandemic by business owners and employees just like yourself making sacrifices to help their fellow man and neighbor as much as possible. I’ve seen T-shirt campaigns be made to bring in funding for small businesses to help with revenue when everything was shut down. I’ve seen restaurants and our local butcher make ways for people in the community to get food to their loved ones in a time when many people were not able to go to work and provide like they normally were accustomed to. I’ve seen Angie Hibben, our wonderful and amazing chamber president, start a Facebook group “Support Small Business Kendall County” (that has grown to over 800 members) to make sure people knew how they could support their small and local businesses and help their neighbors, friends and families in the community make sure they were taken care of. It was and is encouraging to know we are surrounded by such courteous and helpful people who really care. My name is Jonathan Henderson, and I’ve been a part of the chamber since 2017 when I started to work for CTS Fire & Safety. My lovely wife Megan and our four littles, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Judah and Eliysheba, make up my family (along with our Australian cattle dog named Staley and our chickens and geese), and many of you have met them or will meet them in the future. I became an ambassador in 2018 because I loved the idea of being able to help guide people through the newness of the chamber and how to connect people with one another to make meaningful and beneficial relationships for both parties to help grow their businesses. I was elected to the Board of Directors in May of 2019, and it has been a blessing and honor to serve in that role on behalf of all the businesses in our chamber and people in our towns, cities and villages that we affect. I now, as of May 2022, have been elected to the position of Chairman of the Board and it is not something that I take lightly, and I’m even more blessed and honored to be able to serve you all in this role. I try to make myself as accessible as possible, so if you ever have questions or just would like to talk about how the chamber has helped you or can help you, I’d really love to hear about it and discuss ways to make your experience with the chamber and journey with your business as great as possible. May God bless all of you and your businesses this year and the years to come. Be Blessed,

JONATHAN HENDERSON

Chairman of the Board