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Message from the President | November 2018 President/CEO A.J. Baynes The Event 2018 has come and gone but will go down in the Chamber’s history as one of the best. If you were among the hundreds who attended, you will no doubt understand what I mean. The room was packed with people from both large…

Message from the President | December 2018 President/CEO A.J. Baynes It’s hard to believe, but we are just weeks away from ushering in 2019. The wonderful thing about welcoming another year is the opportunity to refresh and renew our goals and objectives in our personal and professional lives. The Chamber is already looking ahead, planning…

Message from the President | January 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes Welcome 2019!  In a few weeks, I will celebrate my first year as President/CEO of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce, and I couldn’t be prouder of all we accomplished so far. The Chamber is coming into the new year with new investors, new community partners,…

Message from the President | February 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes We asked you to #StepUp and get involved in public policy and you certainly delivered. A record crowd of 400 business and community leaders joined us this year for our Annual Luncheon where we engaged elected leaders throughout the WNY region on their policy priorities, rolled…

Message from the President | April 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes State lawmakers went past the midnight deadline on April 1, but eventually passed the $175 billion-dollar budget. There were several issues on the table that could be detrimental to our business community. Here are some on the Chamber’s radar and how they fared. Permanent 2%…

Message from the President | March 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes When the Governor came to town last week, the Chamber was proud to be there to greet him. He was announcing his commitment to making the 2% property tax cap permanent. It’s an issue the Chamber supports and has included in its Public Policy Agenda for…

Message from the President | May 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes It’s National Small Business Week, a more than 50-year tradition of recognizing the entrepreneurs and small businesses in America for their large contribution to our economy. It’s our small businesses that employ more than half of the workforce in this country, and they are responsible…

Message from the President | September 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes What does the Chamber of the future look like? There is no better time than the present to start thinking about that. As we near the end of the third quarter and set our sights on a strong fourth quarter, this is the time for…

Message from the President | June 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes While there are many struggles for a small business owner, the takeaway from our Small Business Awards Luncheon and Showcase is that our award winners are doing a great job navigating the challenging waters. They showed us how a lot of determination and a little…

Message from the President | July 2019 President/CEO A.J. Baynes The New York Legislature recently ended its session in usual fashion: into the wee hours of the morning. Policy approval always runs into overtime and waiting on the fate of bills critical to business can be daunting. I was pleased to see at the eleventh…