Greenville Chamber Vice Presidents Hank Hyatt and Nika White Selected by American Chamber of Commerce Executives
August 14, 2014
GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Chamber’s Vice President of Economic Development Hank Hyatt has been selected as an inaugural Education Attainment Fellow as part of a promising initiative led by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE). This fellowship is for chamber executives and senior staff working to improve the birth-to-career education pipeline in their communities.
“We have been overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to this high-end leadership training initiative and the high caliber of applicants,” said Mick Fleming, president of ACCE. “This latest step in our strategy to engage businesses in education attainment supports chambers that are maximizing the link between education and economic development goals.”
Hank Hyatt joins a cohort of 21 chamber peers for an immersive education and workforce development experience involving best practices in education attainment, case studies of successes and failures, interaction with national experts and building a strong peer-to-peer network. Throughout the Fellowship, Mr. Hyatt will be developing and executing a specific regional action plan to meet our community’s educational attainment objectives.
Mr. Hyatt was selected based on his passion for improving the birth-to-career education pipeline and a desire to take our chamber’s educational efforts to the next level. Selected fellows also represent chambers that are currently engaged in policy, programs, systems reform, and messaging/communications relating to the areas of early childhood education, K-12, higher education, and workforce development.
This fellowship program serves to advance chambers’ previously defined education attainment goals with the understanding that they will ultimately help ACCE and their peers around the country build replicable programs and policies. For more information about ACCE’s Education Attainment Division visit: http://www.acce.org/divisions/education-attainment-division/
Greenville Chamber Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Nika White has been invited to present a workshop with co-facilitator, Cincinnati Vice President of Economic Inclusion Crystal German on the topic of growing diverse businesses.
2014 marks ACCE’s 100th year of service to chamber leaders, and its 2014 convention in Cincinnati – the city where ACCE was founded – is the highlight of the year’s festivities. The ACCE Convention August 15-19 is perceived as the chamber profession’s event of the year, featuring education and stimulating networking with the best people in the chamber world. Approximately 1,000 executives from across the nation are registered to attend.
ACCE designates economic inclusion as a key focus area and through the years has increased the number of opportunities to incorporate training and networking that helps chamber professionals operate more effectively in the space of diversity and inclusion.
This workshop will focus specifically on the Minority Business Accelerator which both the Greenville and Cincinnati chambers offer in order to help accelerate the development of high potential minority business enterprises and to strengthen and expand the regional minority entrepreneurial community.
“It’s fitting that Crystal German and I will be co-facilitating this session. The execution of an MBA-like program must address the nuances of the market. Greenville is a much different market from Cincinnati and many of the attendees of the ACCE Convention may be able to identify more with Greenville’s market than Cincinnati. Having both perspectives shared to compare and contrast will be important for those looking to start similar program within their respective chamber,” said Nika White.
About the American Chamber of Commerce Executives
The American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) is a national association uniquely serving individuals involved in the management of chambers of all sizes. ACCE’s mission is to support and develop chamber professionals to lead businesses and their communities.
Chamber executives and professionals hold positions requiring leadership, vision and strong management skills. Devoted to helping chamber executives and their staffs play a significant leadership role in their communities, ACCE was established in 1914 to enhance the professional growth, career development and management effectiveness of chamber executives and professional staff. ACCE offers a wealth of information, professional development, management techniques and best practices through its award winning publications, online education, conferences and networking. ACCE also works diligently to upgrade the economic status and professional standing of those active in the chamber field.
For more information on the American Chamber of Commerce Executives and its wealth of resources, visit www.acce.org or call 703-998-0072.
About the Greenville Chamber
The Greenville Chamber, now in its 126th year of operation, is the largest business organization in Upstate South Carolina with over 2400 investors supporting the vision to build one of the premier business communities in the world by driving economic growth and prosperity, serving as an advocate for business interests, training future leaders and facilitating the workforce of tomorrow. For more information, visitwww.greenvillechamber.org or call 864-242-1050.
