A lot has changed during the past 100 years, but members of the business community and state officials said the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s commitment to improving the state has not.
Brad Thomas, president of the chamber’s board of directors, said the group officially began April 6, 1923, when prominent residents of the state first met in the Capitol as the Missouri Association for A Greater Missouri. Since that day 100 years ago, Thomas said Missouri’s small towns, cities and businesses have grown tremendously, in no small part due to the chamber’s work.
“Other states are thriving and competing with the state of Missouri. And that, my friends, is why those businesses gathered 100 years ago today,” he said. “The voices of Missouri businesses are more important today than 100 years ago. Our voices work hard to protect and empower our employees, to serve our customers and to make a difference in our community. This we know: When Missouri businesses are strong, Missouri’s economy is strong.”
Thomas joined other chamber leaders and state officials Thursday morning in the Capitol’s House Lounge to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the group. He was joined by President and CEO Dan Mehan, who has helmed the state’s largest business association for a quarter of its existence. While the group was initially founded to promote the state’s resources and foster state and civic pride, it pivoted to a focus on commerce in the 1970s to labor and taxation policies.
Mehan said the chamber was a lifeline to employers throughout the state during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the chamber continued to serve the state through various leadership and grant programs and its 15-year strategic plan.
“We want to establish Missouri as an economic leader,” Mehan said. “Not only in the Midwest and the country, but around the world.”
To do so, Mehan said there were several issues that the business community wanted to see resolved, including a lack of adequate child care that has also been named an employment obstacle in the Capital City.
“We’re trying to put programs in place to try to help the state step up, and have incentives for employers and others to have childcare programs,” he said. “So it’s one of the many tools that we’re trying to apply toward the workforce shortage that is prevalent around the country.”
Mehan also said public safety was a vital piece of the economic growth puzzle.
“If you’re afraid to locate in an area because of the crime, that ends up being in addition to a societal problem or workforce issue,” he said. “So this is very real.”
Mehan received a proclamation on the chamber’s behalf from Gov. Mike Parson, who touted the state’s low unemployment rate and the chamber’s willingness to come to the table on the biggest issues facing the state.
“We have businesses wanting to come to our state, expansions happening continuously in our state, we keep growing and our economy is on the right track,” Parson said. “It’s on the right track because we partner with the chamber, we find out what the issues are, and we try to move forward together.”
Other state officials touted the importance of the statewide organization: House Minority Floor Leader Crystal Quade said her party may not always agree with the chamber’s positions, but could find common ground on many of the state’s nonpartisan needs. St. Louis County Democrat Sen. Brian Williams praised the chamber’s focus on investments in mental health treatment, criminal justice and fighting recidivism rates. Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Caleb Rowden, a Republican from Columbia, said the chamber was a vital asset to the state because of its advocacy on non-partisan issues.
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, who made a name for himself in Mid-Missouri as a car dealer and owned a Ford dealership in Jefferson City, said the chamber was vital to business owners and leaders like him.
“As a small-businessperson both in manufacturing and in retailing, I would have never been able to stand before you today in this capacity if I didn’t have good, solid policies to be able to acquire a business, to be able to build a business, to be able to create jobs,” Kehoe said. “I realize many of the … tools that helped me get to where I was in life, really had started as policies and the conversations and things set forth by Missouri state chamber, so I want to congratulate them on their 100th year.
“I want to thank them for all the Mike Kehoes across the state. You’ve made policies to let them get to live the American dream and let them be able to flourish in this great state. It’s a special time for me to say thanks to the chamber.”