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B2B Stories

Chamber welcomes Retired Lt. Colonel to group

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Mark Douglass knows how to light up a room with “war stories” and a lifetime of lessons learned in just a short time taking his barbecue sauce to market. He thought he’d start with the original barbecue sauce. “There are four different flavors and the hot and spicy won’t overwhelm you. There is hickory, mesquite and the original.” He joked, “the people who make it love this. They are very happy we went from one to four. They make more money!” Columbia County Chamber President Russell Lahodney

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Neil Gordon November 19, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Amazon regional director speaks about investing in employees

For Robert Packett, much of Amazon’s success is due to the hard work of its more than 1 million employees worldwide. While the company utilizes state-of-the-art technology, that doesn’t reduce the need for workers to fulfill customer orders and ship billions of packages each year. Packett – Amazon’s Southeastern Regional Director of Operations – was the keynote speaker at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Luncheon Series on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at Savannah Rapids Pavilion. In this role, he oversees a team of more than 36,000 employees. “As we

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Josh Heath November 18, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Amazon executive to share lessons learned with employers

Columbia County Chamber of Commerce Keynote speaker Robert Packett knows a thing or two about leadership working for one of the largest employers in the world and in Columbia County. Robert Packett, Southeastern Regional Director of Operations at Amazon will speak on “Turning Team Members into Team Leaders.” Packett leads a team of more than 20,000 professionals, who are the heart and soul of Amazon operations. The event is set for Wednesday, November 17th from 11 A.M to 1 P.M at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion. It’s part of the Executive

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Neil Gordon November 16, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Amazon executive to speak in Columbia County

Companies that invest in their employees tend to achieve greater success and have more satisfied customers. Investing in employees will be the topic of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Luncheon Series on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at Savannah Rapids Pavilion starting at 11 a.m. The keynote speaker will be Robert Packett – Amazon’s southeast regional director of operations. In this role, he oversees more than 20,000 employees. The title of his presentation will be “Turning Team Members Into Team Leaders.” “Investment in our people leads to delighted customers,” says

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Josh Heath November 3, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Chamber accepting applications for local business awards

Augusta is home to a long list of great entrepreneurs and corporations, but the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce wants to narrow that list down to two. The Chamber is currently accepting applications for its 2021 Best in Business awards: Augusta’s Entrepreneur and Corporation of the Year. “Our members consistently share with us that recognition of outstanding businesses in our community is important to our continued economic growth,” says Sue Parr, the Chamber’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We have great stories to tell and our annual Best in Business

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Josh Heath November 1, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Business leaders discuss ways to combat local unemployment

The CSRA is just like thousands of other regional business communities. There are unfilled positions, and despite recruitment, qualified candidates are hard to find. The local labor shortage was the topic of a panel discussion (photo by Kathryn Freemon) called “From Pandemic to Sansdemic: Where Are All the Workers??” at the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Member Economic Luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center. Specifically, the discussion centered on strategies for engaging the more than 99,000 people between the ages 15 and 64

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Josh Heath September 30, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Communicating On the Job in the CSRA

This Thursday and Friday, Dr. Melissa Furman, MS, DBA Founder of Career Potential, LLC will host a two-day conference dedicated to enhancing, elevating and accelerating career and leadership for women. Last week, nearly 100 women got a sneak peek of just one of the components, courtesy of the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce’s monthly, “Women in Business” series, focusing on communication styles. Nancy Powell, local Augusta Real Estate broker (pictured above in red at front table) took a D-I-S-K assessment questionnaire with other audience members. She learned her personality is

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Neil Gordon September 27, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

National software expert shares benefits with CSRA business leaders

Dennis O’Keefe’s sold unique payroll software systems for years to companies all over the world first on behalf of TaxSlayer (prior to their January 2021merger) and currently for a spin-off company, “Workful”. His message to about 15 business leaders at the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce yesterday was simple. “Any software should save employees time, create efficiencies and drive more revenue,”. He made recommendations besides payroll software including the following: Calendly, based in Atlanta works well for scheduling and syncs up with Outlook and Zoom. “It saves users time usually

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Neil Gordon September 17, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Some seats left for this morning’s Chamber business builder series

You may score a free lunch and good information today, if you are an Augusta Chamber of Commerce member, or pay just $15 for lunch and the workshop to help your company automate its’ business practices. Dennis O’keefe, Director of Sales for Workful, will lead the presentation from 12-1, with lunch served at 11:30 at the Chamber Headquarters at One Tenth Street across from the Augusta Marriott. Workful was developed by local tech firm TaxSlayer in 2017 and is a cloud-based payroll and employee management suite made for small businesses

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Neil Gordon September 16, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Local business leaders discuss the effects of COVID-19

For better or worse, COVID-19 has affected everyone and every business. While some businesses have struggled, others have flourished. For Robert Kelly (see photo above story) – vice president of Augusta Staffing – the pandemic has made filling open positions a much greater challenge. “A large number of employees are still scared to come to work,” says Kelly. “It’s affected us greatly.” He explains some companies that hire through Augusta Staffing don’t require masks or social distancing, which makes some employees feel so uncomfortable, they quit their jobs. As a

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Josh Heath September 10, 2021 No Comments
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