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GREATERBALTIMORECHAMBER.ORG | 7YOUR CHAMBERABOUT THE CHAMBER%u201cWhen the chamber was founded, Pikesville was this kind of discrete area from the Reisterstown area, and Owings Mills wasn%u2019t very developed then,%u201d said Mark Pressman, a longtime chamber member who has served in various positions on the Board of Directors, including vice president and president, since joining the chamber around 2009. %u201cThey were separate business districts and neighborhoods, separated by a fair amount of space. Over the years, Reisterstown Road became populated with lots of stores and shopping centers, and the distinction became a little blurry. We started getting members from north of Pikesville and decided to rename ourselves to recognize who we were serving.%u201dThe Pikesville Chamber of Commerce became the Pikesville-Owings Mills Chamber of Commerce in the late 2010s.%u201cThat pattern continued: we were attracting members from the fringes of our area, and the perceived borders just kept expanding. We were getting people from Towson and Baltimore City,%u201d said Pressman. %u201cSo about three years ago, we decided to go big or go home and renamed ourselves the Greater Baltimore Chamber of Commerce.%u201dBeth Rheingold, PhD, IOM, was the inspiration behind the expanded focus and rebrand to the Greater Baltimore Chamber in 2021. It has been the hallmark of Dr. Rheingold's tenure as president and CEO. %u201cBeth has helped us recognize that the way to bring value to members is by building relationships and connecting people with other people,%u201d said Pressman. %u201cI think that%u2019s an area where we%u2019re really strong now.%u201d%u201cBeth has done a lot to expand our services,%u201d agreed Arthur Putzel, another longtime chamber member whose father was president of the chamber soon after its founding. %u201cThe world has changed a lot since the chamber was founded. Business is becoming more global, which makes the highly localized chambers less relevant.%u201dChambers need to become advocacy organizations for regional businesses, he said, to address the daily frustrations of business owners, such as permitting and parking issues.GBCC is particularly well-positioned to serve as that advocacy organization, as Dr. Rheingold was recently appointed by County Executive Kathy Klausmeier as chair of the Workforce Development Board for Baltimore County. EVENTSOne of GBCC%u2019s preeminent networking events is the Power Hour Lunch, held on the second Wednesday of every month. %u201cIt started as a brown-bag lunch where business members were encouraged to bring their lunch and chat. When we started, we were lucky to get half a dozen people. Over the years, we kept growing, and it%u2019s not unusual now to get 40 or 45 people,%u201d Pressman said. %u201cWe now also have organizations that sponsor food, so you don%u2019t have to bring your brown bag anymore!%u201dThe lunch meetings have been a good resource for B2B members in finding customers, but can also be useful for connecting other members, such as retail businesses, with potential vendors for marketing, IT, and other services, Pressman noted.Other important chamber events include:%u25a0 A monthly Small Business Roundtable in Hunt Valley%u25a0 Quarterly new member breakfasts%u25a0 Membership 101 member orientations%u25a0 After-hours happy hours%u25a0 Annual legislative roundtables where legislators brief chamber members about the next upcoming legislative session, focusing on legislation that may affect their business%u25a0 Annual membership meetingBeth Rheingold, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Chamber of Commerce, presents David Ginsburg, executive director of the Pikesville Armory Foundation, with a $50,000 check from GBCC in support of performing arts at the Pikesville Armory.