Join us for our installment of the Pacesetters Doing Business series featuring Boston Planning and Development Agency on December 7, 2023.
12/07/2023
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Virtual
Jenny Holaday will share her journey into leadership as President of Encore Boston Harbor and first woman to run a casino in Massachusetts.
12/13/2023
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Encore Boston Harbor
Step into Winter Wonderland at our BIMA Holiday Gala. Gather your digital media and marketing peers for a night of networking and entertainment.
12/14/2023
6:30pm - 9:30pm
InterContinental Boston
Designed for mid-level managers and supervisors, this new certificate program addresses workplace well-being through unique, innovative, and actionable methods.
Join our Transformational DEI Certificate! Our comprehensive learning & development offerings are designed to connect and grow strong leaders who lead both inside and out of the office.
Our Women’s Leadership Program enables you to take your leadership to the next level by arming you with the most in-demand leadership toolkit.
Our Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit, as well as the opportunity to apply their knowledge through experiential assignments.
City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.
We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).
The Fierce Urgency of Now Festival brings Boston’s diverse young professionals together with business leaders, organizations and their peers to build connection, advance careers and ignite positive change.
09/12/2023 -
09/16/2023
Greater Boston
BIMA (the Boston Interactive Media Association) serves a vibrant community of like-minded professionals from agencies, brands, publishers, and ad-tech companies with business interests in the New England market.
For nearly 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.
The Massachusetts Apprentice Network convenes employers, training providers, and talent sources interested in developing and implementing apprenticeship programs in occupations across industries and statewide in fields such as tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and more.
We support small business through public policy initiatives, events designed to connect small businesses in Greater Boston to their peers and established business leaders, professional development offerings, and free small business advising.
Explore our mission and values to better understand how we are leading the business community forward.
Our member directory is your resource to discover, connect, and engage with Boston’s businesses from every industry and sector.
The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce announces today the statewide expansion of the Pacesetters initiative in order to intensify the business community’s efforts to address systemic inequities and racism. As the convener of the business community, the Chamber is harnessing the collective buying power of companies in Massachusetts to fulfill a bold and necessary vision to close the racial wealth gap in one generation.
While there are many ways to ensure economic opportunity, the Chamber is committed to utilizing procurement as an equity tool. The business community’s purchasing power cannot be underestimated, and the new statewide expansion adds business associations from across the Commonwealth and their members from a variety of industries to the Pacesetters buyer pool. This programmatic expansion ensures that the Pacesetters procurement opportunities for 90,000 minority business enterprises in Massachusetts substantially increase.
“When the Chamber created Pacesetters in 2018, we presented the private sector with the opportunity to commit to using procurement as an equity tool. With the new Pacesetters statewide expansion, we are unlocking the buying power across the state to substantially increase the opportunities for businesses of color. Our convening power and strong relationships with our partner Business Associations allow us to recruit even more buyers. We can close the racial wealth gap in one generation, and Pacesetters can help us create systemic opportunity,”
said James E. Rooney, President & CEO, Greater Boston Chamber
By joining the Pacesetters program, companies and business associations from a variety of industries commit to measuring, reporting, and increasing their spend with local and state minority business enterprises (MBEs) year over year for five years. In addition to measuring, reporting and increasing spend, each Pacesetter tier has unique purposes and commitment.
In addition to convening the buyers in the private sector, Pacesetters is now partnering with government at the state and city levels to highlight the important role of the public sector. “While not members of the private sector, when government engages in buying goods and procuring services, they are practicing business and commerce. Government buying power has to be part of the equation,” said Rooney.
The Chamber’s long-standing relationships with Governor Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, and Dr. Karilyn Crockett, Chief of Equity for the City of Boston, are integral to make sure that the government’s supplier diversity efforts are a success.
“Our administration is committed to expanding economic opportunity for people of color across the Commonwealth, which is why we have worked to build on the success of the state’s supplier diversity program by meeting and raising benchmarks and proposing significant new reforms like elevating the Supplier Diversity Office,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “We are pleased the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is pursuing this same goal for the private sector through the Pacesetters initiative and look forward to working together to increase contracting opportunities for minority-owned businesses.”
“The City of Boston is proud to join the Chamber’s Pacesetters program, expanding our work to make sure that this is a city of opportunity for everyone,” said Mayor Walsh. “I’m grateful for the the bold vision of Jim Rooney and his leadership at the Chamber to ensure that we create a more equitable business community at both the local and state level,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of the City of Boston.
“The business community can make an enormous difference in building a more equitable economy by using our combined purchasing power to lift minority business enterprises. We are grateful to our many partners for their commitment to this important and timely effort,” said Micho Spring, Chair of Weber Shandwick’s Global Corporate Practice and New England President and Chair of the Chamber’s Board of Directors.
“I like the fact that the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce continues to make racial economic equity a central part of its core values. When we invest in Black and Brown businesses, we all win and the Commonwealth wins. Pacesetters has the ability to make systemic change as a respected business organization in Greater Boston. I commend Jim Rooney for his tenacity and his bold vision on ensuring that all of us thrive. I am looking forward to seeing the best of the Pacesetters in the coming years,” said Herby Duverné, CEO & Principal of Windwalker Group and Chamber Board Member.
“The Eastern Bank Foundation has been a proud sponsor of the Pacesetters program since the beginning and applaud the efforts of the Chamber to take a fresh look and grow. Now more than ever, the business community needs to do its part to lift up small businesses owned by people of color. The success of the Pacesetters program is critical to achieving a more equitable economy,” said Bob Rivers, Chairman & CEO of Eastern Bank and Chamber Economic Opportunity Committee Co-Chair.
To ensure accuracy and accountability, every Pacesetter will submit data on local, state, and national spend with businesses of color. The data collection process is administered with Boston University’s Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, a neutral third party to ensure data privacy and anonymity. With the annual submission of data from the Pacesetters, the Chamber will measure the Pacesetters’ spend, including number of new MBE contracts, dollars spent with MBEs, and year over year growth in MBE spend. The aggregated data and findings will be published and shared annually to ensure accountability for the stakeholders.
The Pacesetters program is supported by Presenting Sponsors Eastern Bank and John Hancock.
Participating Pacesetters
Participating Business Associations
Casey Baines
Director, Policy & Communications
[email protected]617-557-7320
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