The Chamber is Your Business Voice

One of the benefits your business receives when you’re a member of the Chamber is the advocacy we provide on your behalf. Every day the Chamber is out working on your behalf with your elected officials at all levels of government, from Congress to City Hall.

The Chamber spends some of our time and resources to make sure that you, the impacted business community, have a forum and a voice to issue your concerns on issues that will affect you, your employees and your customers.

In today’s busy business environment, it’s too easy to miss an alert, a press release or a public meeting on an ordinance, law, rule or regulation that will affect how you conduct your business. Through the Chamber, we are able to band together to provide our elected officials and the business community a venue for communication, dialogue, mutual education, and exchanges of viewpoints.

The Chamber cannot do it alone and we are extremely fortunate to have engaged Members who take time away from their business, to help build a better business environment for everyone. Every month dozens of your peers attend our Legislative Committee meetings at Hotel Arista to take part and take an active role in the governmental processes.

Not all of the topics the committee engages with generate significant headlines and interest, but they are important to your business nonetheless. Earlier this year the Chamber’s Legislative Committee evaluated a proposal that would have created one waste hauler for every business in Naperville. The Committee registered its strong objections, and your elected officials heard the voice of business and put that proposal out to the curb.

I also wanted to congratulate the Chamber on last week’s impactful and successful meetings. The Chamber was one of the first organizations to spend time learning about the Video Gaming Act and its possible implications for Naperville. The topic issue immediately elicits strong feelings and the Chamber held a very educational overview on the issues involved. The engaged Members of the Committee will spend more time analyzing all of the issue before recommending action to our Board of Directors.

Last week the Committee also hosted our annual August Congressional Roundtable, with our member of Congress, Representative Judy Biggert. We were fortunate to have a special guest, Representative Mark Kirk from the 10th Congressional District join us for the annual event as well.

The luncheon’s conversation touched on the reauthorization of the federal highway surface transportation bill, the Employee Free Choice Act (Card Check), the American Clean Energy And Security Act (Cap and Trade) and healthcare reform. It was great to see elected officials knowing that our business community, through our Chamber, is engaged on these critical issues as they move through Congress.

I also want to thank the Members of the Committee, the community at large, and the security staff of Hotel Arista for keeping our Roundtable a respectful, albeit opinionated, exchange. Everyday the newspaper and television are full of accounts of meetings spiraling out of control. Our Chamber took the steps necessary to put on a first-class business roundtable and it is something I was proud to attend.

If you have not attended a legislative committee meeting, I encourage you to attend one. You will find them valuable and you will see first-hand the hard work and effort your Chamber provides to make sure you are educated, and most importantly, heard on the issues that impact you.

In the “Spotlight” this month are key people who make sure “when the Chamber speaks on your behalf, people listen.” They are the members of our Legislative Committee; Board Team Leader, Pam Denniston; Legislative Committee Chair, John Knobloch; Vice-Chair Sean Sebold; Chamber President & CEO, John Schmitt; and the Chamber’s Vice President of Advocacy, Patrick Skarr. Please thank these individuals for keeping us formed and for handling our meetings in a professional, well organized, respectful manner.

Best regards,


Annmarie Siwik
DiGiovine Hnilo Jordan + Johnson
Board Chair