Letter From
The President

Working Together To Grow

After being involved with the business community in Queens and the Chamber for so many years, it’s an honor and a privilege to be asked to serve as President. I can assure you that I relish the challenge, and look forward to working with each and every one of you.

The heart of what the Chamber does is advocacy – advocacy on legislative affairs, on the relationships between government and business. The Chamber brings a private sector perspective to issues of public importance. It is a form of public collaboration. It is key to a well-functioning community.

Whether it’s transportation, health care, education, tax levels or development issues, the Chamber is involved. It doesn’t matter if a business is small or large; the Chamber is a place to meet; discuss public policy concerns; to figure out what we share, and how we differ. The Chamber is nonpartisan. We work equally and openly with members on both sides of the aisle. We look to forge productive relationships – productive relationships, which will provide benefits to our members.

We will work to expand our advocacy. We will seek to bring issues to you in a timely manner and to give you the opportunity to voice your opinion with elected officials. Together, we will work to unite interests across individual agendas and across philosophical divides.

I want each of our members to know we belong to a fantastic network. It’s a powerful network. Each of you should seek to take advantage of it, and to be empowered by it. We unite business, academia, nonprofits, labor, and government. Our members employ a half million people in Queens. I applaud all of our achievements as a chamber network, but we are only scratching the surface of what we can do – if we work together. And, work is really what it’s about. The issue of the day, the month, the year, is JOBS. Queens is a magnet for the world. We have 178 languages spoken here. It’s a place where people can retain their cultural identity while living and working side by side. Multiculturalism, equality, access and hope – this is the soul of Queens.

But we still must work together to get it exactly right. Workforce development is – and will remain -- one of our primary challenges. Developing educational partnerships is instrumental in workforce development. LaGuardia and Queensborough Community Colleges, Queens College, York College, Plaza College, St John’s University – all contribute to the rich academic landscape where we live. All are great assets to our community and to your businesses. We will work to expand these partnerships. Expect them to contribute to the spirit of entrepreneurship that the Chamber fosters.

Yet it is not only educational institutions, but also the expertise of fellow members that will grow workforce skills in the borough. It is they who can train businesses on new technologies, on social media and new communication channels. The Chamber will be working to bring you relevant seminars in convenient venues; use them to your advantage. They will cover a broad array of topics. Through my own experience at Con Edison, I can tell you both my company and National Grid have many new programs to help businesses save money on energy. We can show you how to maintain the lighting, heating and cooling you need – while using less energy – AND the utility is going to pay you for it.

The Queens Chamber will celebrate 100 years of service next year. We will have some exciting programs to highlight this achievement. For the moment, we’ll focus on the next hundred. I look forward to working with each of you. Together, we can prove that our Chamber’s most vibrant days are still ahead.

Carol Conslato
President

Letter From The President

Letter From
The President