Join us to hear from two influential leaders as they discuss how the Commonwealth can lead the AI Revolution.
01/21/2025
9:30am - 11:00am
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
Hear from James E. Rooney about the state of the economy, and how it all matters to businesses, residents, and policymakers.
01/22/2025
2:00pm - 2:30pm
Virtual
Join on us on Friday, January 31, as we host our highly anticipated 2025 Pinnacle Awards Luncheon.
01/31/2025
11:00am - 1:30pm
Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport
Go deeper than basic DEI training to achieve higher productivity, satisfaction, and revenue growth with our new corporate workshop.
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.
09/14/2024 -
09/17/2024
Suffolk University - Sargent Hall
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 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.
Last week, the Chamber hosted its first Government Affairs Forum of 2018, featuring Mass. Governor Charlie Baker. His speech centered on many key policy issues that are of crucial importance to the Greater Boston business community – such as housing and transportation – but also delved into new plans and initiatives for the Commonwealth moving forward. Here are the highlights:
Transportation
Baker began his speech with an impressive list of accomplishments that his administration has made in transportation the past three years: $3 billion in road projects, around 80 repaired or replaced bridges, and enough new blacktop to crisscross the Commonwealth five times. He spoke at length about the T, highlighting $450 million worth of new contracts, 23 miles of new third rails, and the creation of a fiscal management control board and a strategic plan for the MBTA. Though Baker admits the T is outdated and needs massive renovations, he believes his plan to replace signals – which would halve the waiting times for trains during rush hour – will solve congestion issues and create a much better environment for riders. Most notably, Baker announced that Longfellow Bridge will reopen in May – after being renovated for more than five years. The project will also remain on budget, with a price tag of $303 million. With an estimated 28,000 vehicles and roughly 90,000 Red Line commuters across the river each day, this development is sure to improve Boston transportation significantly.
Housing
Housing is perhaps the most talked-about issue in the Commonwealth – especially here in Boston. Governor Baker spoke about the proposals his administration is currently working on including his Housing Choice initiative. At the core of the housing issue, Baker said, is a supply and demand issue that has been ongoing for years – there are not enough accommodations for those who want them. This fact alone influences much of life in Massachusetts – particularly for the workforce, in terms of talent retention. The Baker administration seeks to rectify this by planning to build 135,000 units of housing over the next five to six years, as well as proposing a housing bond bill that would have the Commonwealth put over $1 billion into housing over the next four to five years.
Grants
Governor Baker also spoke about the MassWorks Infrastructure Program, which provides funding for public entities and municipalities to support job growth and housing in Massachusetts, and boasted that 331 out of 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth have signed up to earn funding for a variety of best practices associated with the initiative, over 800 in all. Baker also announced that MassRobotics has been awarded a $2.5 million grant under this initiative to help expand its operations and promote the economic growth of Massachusetts’ rapidly expanding tech industry.
MassMutual
In the speech, Governor Baker stressed that Massachusetts is a great place to live, work, start a business and raise a family – and as proof, he alluded to a company that would announce a big plan to become a more prominent component of the Massachusetts business community. That company was MassMutual, whose plans include building a new Boston campus and adding 2,000 jobs in Massachusetts – a $300 million investment.
Be sure to join us at our next Government Affairs Forum breakfast on March 13, which will feature Speaker of the MA House, Robert DeLeo. Register here.
Watch Governor Baker’s full speech below:
If you would like to see photos from the event, click here.
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