The Chamber's Board of Directors met for an all-day retreat on Thursday, May 6 at the Freeport Community Center to review this year's accomplishments and to set the agenda for the balance of this program year and next year.

During the retreat, which was facilitated by 22-year Chamber veteran Douglas Kinsinger, CCE, President/CEO of the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce, the Board discussed the strengths of the organization, areas needing greater attention and identified the top four priorities for the Chamber. The resulting list of priorities were topped with: securing a long-term location for the Chamber's Beach area office, increasing member services and the image of the Chamber, expanding the budget to accommodate new program initiatives, and to increase office efficiencies through new and/or updated technology.

"This mid-year retreat gave the Board an opportunity to evaluate our progress thus far this year and more importantly, allowed us the time to begin the necessary planning to continue the positive momentum of the Chamber," said Chamber Board President Joyce Szilvasy (CHELCO). "We all left the retreat not only with a clear idea of what we needed to do, but also with a strategy as to how to get it done."