Greater Memphis Chamber wins five economic development awards

by Lois Charm

On September 20,2023, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) hosted its annual Excellence in Economic Development Awards in Texas. The event received over 580 submissions, a record number for the council. The Greater Memphis Chamber (GMC) ended up winning five awards in various categories. Each category described the specific actions that led to them receiving either gold, silver, or bronze awards in each category.

Gwyn Fisher, chief economic development officer of Greater Memphis Chamber, credited her team’s hard work to their success at the awards ceremony. 

Photo courtesy of Greater Memphis Chamber/Gywn Fisher (L), Ted Townsend, Amity Schuyler and Jessica Mosley (R).

“We wake up every day with a goal of building a greater Memphis for all through economic development, workforce development, and advocacy,” she said. “These awards confirm that our innovation, creativity, and collaboration – which really reflect the spirit of our community – are making a difference.”

The chamber first received a gold award in the category of Regionalism & Cross-Border Collaboration. The chamber won due to its partnership with Ford Motor Company on the BlueOval City project as stated by IEDC.

“The Chamber worked closely with regional and state partners to secure Ford and SK Innovation’s BlueOval City electric vehicle and battery manufacturing campus near Memphis in 2021. The $5.6B, 6,000-job project, set to begin production in 2025, is the largest private investment in the history of Ford and of Tennessee.”

The next award was a silver award in the category, Annual Report. The report featured vibrant graphic design, with statistics describing economic success in Memphis over the past year. It was completed in collaboration with design firms, Harvest Creative, Wilson PR, and RedRover Sales & Marketing Strategy.

A bronze award was given in the category, Print Brochure. It recognized a research report created by the chamber’s research and analysis center, the Greater Memphis Economic Research Group (GMERG). The chamber was also recognized as creating, “one of the most research-driven business recruitment strategies of any chamber in the nation.”

A second bronze award was given in the category, Special Purpose Website. This award recognized the chamber’s economic-development website, MemphisMoves.com, which is a part of the chamber's business recruitment campaign.

A final bronze award was given to the chamber in the category, Resiliency, Recovery and Mitigation. This was due to a resource, the Small Business Resiliency Playbook, which contained the insights of about 50 local business experts, to help small business owners avoid or manage financial issues or business disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ted Townsend, president and CEO of Greater Memphis Chamber, shared how he knew Memphis had successful days ahead of it after he was appointed CEO of the Chamber.

“When I became president and CEO of the Chamber in December, I told Memphis we were going to need a bigger trophy case, and we are already making good on that promise. Thanks to IEDC for shining an international spotlight on Greater Memphis and one of the hardest-working chamber teams in the nation.”

To learn more about the Chamber, visit https://memphischamber.com.

Lois Charm is a former freelance journalist for Writing by Design Media, Inc. This article was originally published 10/5/2023.