Having assumed executive leadership of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce, Alexander Austin faces several challenges, including helping the organization find its post-Covid footing and discerning and navigating a changed political context with a newly elected county council.
Austin, a Prince George’s native, began his new job Dec. 19, succeeding David Harrington, who died suddenly in September, having helmed the chamber for 11 years and only just begun a new job for Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic Region.
One of Austin’s priority charges is to boost in-person membership engagement coming out of Covid, such as through events like networking mixers held at member businesses, according to Cassius Priestly, the chamber’s board chair. “We are not a virtual organization,” Priestly, a Truist executive, said in an interview.
Priestly said the board also wants Austin to increase membership; find more public and private revenues sources so the chamber can diversify beyond its present primary revenue streams, which are membership dues and event income; and continue the chamber’s legislative advocacy in support of businesses at the county and state levels.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Dan Brendel over at Baltimore Business Journal
