Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber - History of the Chamber of Commerce

Events

May Mixer at Elements Therapeutic Massage

Thursday May 17, @5:30pm - @7:30pm

Small Business Sounding Board (SB2)

Tuesday June 12, @8:00am - @9:00am

Multi-Chamber Breakfast at The Annapolis Sheraton

Tuesday June 19, @7:30am - @9:30am

News Digest

May 14 2012
Feds approve more BWI upgrades

The Capital - As BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport officials prepare for a $100 million terminal expansion this year, they also have received federal approval for a massive airfield improvement project. Read more ...
May 14 2012
O’Malley wants fast action from Md. gambling work group

Washington Post - In a bid to resolve some of the most difficult gambling issues left over from the last legislative session, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) said Friday that he would assemble an 11-member work group on casinos to undertake “a fact-driven process, aided by expert analysis.” O’Malley said the group would be charged with making public recommendations by June 20, in preparation for a possible second special session in July devoted to gaming issues. Read more ...

Small Business Digest

April 05 2012
GSA scandal sheds light on small business contracting fraud

Washington Post - Buried in the laundry list of misconduct claims against the General Services Administration is further evidence of what at least one federal official and one trade group call a critical problem for small employers: improper contracting that diverts government spending to large corporations instead of small businesses.

Recent analysis of government data that showed that 72 of the 100 companies receiving the highest amount of federal small business contracts in 2011 were firms that exceeded the Small Business Administration’s size standards for small companies. Read more ...
April 05 2012
What you can learn from Southwest Airlines’ culture

Washington Post - A consciously developed customer-centered culture is a business advantage that will serve you for years — and inoculate you against competitive inroads. Consider for a minute Southwest Airlines and the lengthy list of would-be category killers that have tried to imitate it: United Airlines’ United Shuttle, Continental Airlines’ Continental Lite, Delta’s Delta Express and US Airways’ Metro-Jet.

What did these companies lack: Money? Name recognition? Hardly. They lacked Southwest’s relentless focus on culture, which none of its pop-up competitors was willing to slow down to emulate. And all are now bust. Read more ...

Legislative Digest

May 14 2012
Maryland budget bills outline tax increases

The Capital - The budget package to be adopted during the legislature's special session that starts on Monday will increase the income taxes some residents pay, and will shift some of the cost of teachers' pensions from the states to the counties, according to draft bills the General Assembly posted online on Friday. Read more ...
May 14 2012
Gov. O’Malley touts low taxes as he calls special session to raise them

Maryland Reporter - Maryland has some of the lowest taxes in the country, Gov. Martin O’Malley said Wednesday officially announcing plans to call a special session of the legislature to fix a budget impasse — partially by raising taxes. Read more ...
May 14 2012
Group: Maryland too reliant on income taxes

The Capital - While Gov. Martin O’Malley has touted Maryland’s comparatively low tax burden on its high-income populace, some groups are concerned that the income tax hikes proposed for this week’s General Assembly special session will harm the state’s national rankings on taxes and business climate. Read more ...

Economic Digest

May 14 2012
Anne Arundel economic leaders seeking funding boost

The Capital - County officials hope to devote an additional $1 million toward business recruitment and redevelopment in the upcoming year. Read more ...
April 11 2012
Growth of U.S. labor force is slowing, reports show

Washington Post - The slower growth in the labor force arises from two factors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. First, the U.S. population is growing more slowly. Second, the percentage of Americans working or seeking work will continue to decline as the population ages. Read more ...
April 11 2012
D.C. region’s unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent in Feb.

Washington Post - The Washington region’s unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent in February from a seasonally adjusted 5.6 percent the month before, one of the lowest levels among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas and well below the national jobless rate, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. Read more ...

History of the Chamber of Commerce

The Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1918 as the Annapolis Chamber of Commerce. At that time, the primary center of business activity in Anne Arundel County was in the City of Annapolis. The rest of Anne Arundel County was rural farm land and sparsely populated. The far northern part of the county was a residential suburb of Baltimore City.

After the Second World War, development in Anne Arundel County began in earnest and commercial activity in the county began to grow. The Annapolis Chamber of Commerce created a committee of the chamber to focus on concerns of particular interest to county businesses and the development of commercial property in Anne Arundel County. The chamber of commerce also changed its name to the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce.

In the early 1950’s, the Anne Arundel Trade Council was formed from the chamber’s committee on county business concerns. This newly formed organization focused primarily on servicing businesses in Anne Arundel County and promoting commercial development in the county. During the years between the 1950’s and 1980’s, the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce exclusively focused on city business concerns and changed its name back to the Annapolis Chamber of Commerce. The Anne Arundel Trade Council continued to grow in membership with a strong advocacy role in the areas of commercial development, economic development, and public education in Anne Arundel County.

As the decade of the 1980’s gave way to the decade of the 1990’s, both the Greater Annapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Anne Arundel Trade Council experienced an increase in the number of duplicate memberships. Toward the latter part of the 1990’s, the duplication of membership between the two organizations exceeded 32 percent and both organizations were expending resources on duplicative programming. The business community in both the county and the city recognized this trend and began discussions on bringing the two organizations back together as one. On January 1, 1999, the Greater Annapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Anne Arundel Trade Council reunited to form the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce with over 1,200 business members.

Today, the organization is one of the largest chambers of commerce in Maryland with a strong advocacy role for businesses, a vibrant networking role that helps businesses expand their customer base, and unparalleled access to resources important for businesses to grow and succeed in the City of Annapolis, and Anne Arundel County. The Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce has also become the leading business organization in the region; fostering communication, the exchange of ideas, and facilitating effective collaboration on issues affecting business and economic development. In addition, the organization provides services and programs to meet the varied needs of its members and affiliates which help them meet the challenges of a constantly changing business environment.

The Chamber of Commerce is known for creating innovative and workable solutions to problems and issues facing the City of Annapolis, Anne Arundel County and the region. In everything it does, the Chamber of Commerce strives to make Annapolis and Anne Arundel County a better place to live, work, and do business.