Greater Winston-Salem Inc. What’s in a Name and Why Does It Matter?

News Flash: “Greater Winston-Salem Inc. (the organization formerly known as the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce) wins 2024 Chamber of the Year!”

The Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) may think that Greater Winston-Salem Inc. is the most outstanding chamber of commerce in the country, but why should you care?

Even if you’re not a business owner or an entrepreneur, Greater Winston-Salem Inc. probably impacts your life a lot more than you think.

What is a Chamber of Commerce?

In short, a traditional chamber of commerce is a membership organization made up of local businesses that band together to improve their community. 

At the nuts-and-bolts level, chambers of commerce provide member businesses with services like coaching, access to networking events, promotion through chamber activities, talent recruitment and a constellation of other resources and programming. 

But here’s where things get interesting. 

“There’s a saying in the chamber industry: ‘If you’ve seen one chamber of commerce, you’ve seen one chamber of commerce,’” Mark Owens says. Owens is CEO of Greater Winston-Salem Inc., a position he’s held since 2017. 

That industry zinger basically means that each chamber of commerce prioritizes programs and activities that are determined by the local business community.

“Every chamber does things a little differently,” Owens says. “Each chamber is unique because you want to match your services with the community needs that you serve.” 

Owens describes Greater Winston-Salem Inc. as the best parts of a more traditional chamber of commerce with the addition of economic development. Not all chambers engage in the latter. It’s one of the things that sets Greater Winston-Salem Inc. apart. 

“We are the largest business association in Forsyth County, and we are really focused on trying to make Winston-Salem and Forsyth County the best environment to start, grow, retain, and locate a business,” Owens says. 

Greater Winston-Salem Inc. developed three main goals that drive its activities. 

• To be the top mid-size city in the Southeast 
• To be a more equitable community 
• To be the best place to raise a family

“If we do those three things, then businesses will thrive. Individuals will have economic mobility opportunities, be able to further their careers and enjoy living here in a way that creates roots so that they want to stay and grow with our community together,” Owens says. “You can’t have economic development without community development.”

That focus on merging community and economic development was a big part of why the organization became Greater Winston-Salem Inc. The change signaled that the organization was broadening its scope, creating a new mission. 

“We still are a chamber of commerce, but we do more than a traditional chamber of commerce does,” Owens says. “It allows us to reimagine the work we’re doing to help the future of Winston-Salem’s economy for one and all.” 

Who Does Greater Winston-Salem Inc. Serve? 

If you ask Mark Owens what a typical day looks like for Greater Winston-Salem Inc., he will literally laugh out loud. For this busy chamber of commerce, there simply isn’t a “typical” day. 

Visiting Greater Winston-Salem’s offices at 525@vine in the Innovation Quarter, you’ll see a cross-section of individuals and companies that the organization serves: from people who come to Greater Winston-Salem Inc. for career help to students who participate in training or programs that prepare them for a career, from member companies that participate in referral groups to businesses that use the programming of Greater Winston-Salem to help train their workforces. You may also encounter representatives from their various partners, visiting companies from places as far afield as South Africa and Germany, and even elected officials.

Many of Greater Winston-Salem Inc.’s programs are done in partnership with other organizations in the Winston-Salem community. After all, making Winston-Salem the top mid-sized city in the Southeast is going to take….well, a village. 

How Does Greater Winston-Salem Inc. Help Grow This City?

What if you’re not a business owner and you’re not using Greater Winston-Salem Inc. to further your career? Does a chamber of commerce still impact your life? 

The short answer is yes. 

We mentioned earlier that one of Greater Winston-Salem Inc’s differentiators is economic development, which is just a fancy way of saying that the organization tries to improve the quality of life for its community. Greater Winston-Salem Inc. does this by supporting companies in the community that are trying to expand and by bringing new industries and companies to Winston-Salem. 

These new companies become places you might shop or work, where you either earn your wages or spend them. To bring those companies to Winston-Salem, Greater Winston-Salem Inc. is telling the city’s story. 

“When we host companies here, we’re trying to show them what it can look like to locate in Winston-Salem and why they should want to move here,” Owens says. “We like to tell the story of our city and to be a kind of megaphone for Winston-Salem.” 

While Greater Winston-Salem Inc. is always looking for companies of all shapes, sizes and sectors, they have a few target industries that they focus on when doing their economic development work. Those industries are: 

• Aviation and aerospace 
• Healthcare and life sciences
• Advanced manufacturing
• Headquarters and business services
• Technology and high growth entrepreneurship 

Some of these companies you might recognize, such as Ziehl Abegg Fans and Ventilation Systems, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging, John-Deere, Ardagh Sustainable Packaging Solutions, and Purple Crow food distribution.

By building a stronger, more vibrant economy piece-by-piece, Greater Winston-Salem Inc. hopes the ripple effect spreads throughout the area. Like the old adage says, rising tides lift all boats. 

How Do You Open Doors for Everyone in Winston-Salem?

For Greater Winston-Salem Inc., that rising tide needs to lift everyone in Winston-Salem. “All boats” truly means “ALL boats,” so the organization continually prioritizes programs and activities that remove barriers to career growth and help people gain the skills and resources they need to find and advance in a job.  

“We want everybody in our community to have the opportunity to participate in economic growth, to promote economic mobility and a more equitable community,” Owens says. “We want household incomes to be able to rise so people can have more resources to grow their family and meet the needs of their life and their lifestyle that they want to lead.”

To open career doors for as many people as possible, Greater Winston-Salem Inc. partners with many other community organizations, helping to coordinate and optimize the resources available in Winston-Salem. Nowhere is this role more evident than the Forsyth Works program.  

Forsyth Works

There are a lot of entities in Winston-Salem that have been working hard to develop a strong workforce in the City of Arts and Innovation for a long time. The Forsyth Works program is a one-stop shop for workforce needs, bringing all those organizations together to support workforce development. The program, which is a partnership of Greater Winston-Salem Inc., Forsyth Technical Community College, Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, and Forsyth County, provides education and support for individuals, as well as training and connections for companies, large and small. 

“All of these organizations are doing workforce development in a unique way, but the Forsyth Works program finally coordinates all those efforts,” Owens says. “It helps make sure that there are no gaps in our offerings and that the offerings are easier to access for everybody, specifically individuals that have lived in traditionally underserved communities.”

Aspire WS

One of the best ways to eliminate barriers to jobs is to start early. The ASPIRE WS program helps high school juniors and seniors in Title I schools become work-ready through a holistic training program that allows them to transfer what they learn in the program to real-world internships with local employers. 

Once accepted, students participate in the program, which teaches career skills such as workplace communication, resume writing, and interviewing. Upon completion, they are eligible for paid internships with company partners, who are reimbursed for the hours worked. All these components help students learn more about careers they are interested in, as well as remove barriers to internships for both students and companies. 

“We want to give students opportunities to see what careers are out there, so they can see that they want to be a biochemist, or a doctor, or a lawyer,” Owens says. “It gives them a chance to work in a bank, or in construction to hopefully spark career growth for young people in our community.

How Greater Winston-Salem Inc. is tackling these goals were part of what made it stand out in the Chamber of the Year award process. In addition to bringing in more than $800 million in capital investments and generating over 2,000 jobs in the community since 2020, the organization has also distributed almost $900,000 in grants to minority-owned businesses. Paired with their work in economic mobility through programs like Forsyth Works and ASPIRE WS, these statistics underlined how the organization is leading in the Winston-Salem community. 

What Motivates Greater Winston-Salem Inc.?

Of the organization’s three goals, the last one (making Winston-Salem a great place to live by making it the best place to raise a family) is an effort that is near and dear to Owens’ heart. 

“We want to be a place where career-minded individuals want to move and put roots down and really grow a community,” Owens says. 

Owens is an example of someone who did just that. Before moving to Winston-Salem and joining our chamber of commerce, Owens was previously CEO of the chamber of commerce for Greer, South Carolina. When interviewing for the position in Winston-Salem, Owens and his wife were expecting–imminently–a baby. In fact, Owens’ second interview was scheduled for a Tuesday, and his son was born the Friday before.

“We had to go back to the hospital the morning before my interview, which meant I was going to miss my second interview,” Owens says. “When I notified the search committee chair that I couldn’t make the interview for family reasons, he said, ‘How about we see you in four to five weeks?’” 

When Winston-Salem’s chamber of commerce extended that interview process for Owens, it sent a message to him that Winston-Salem cares about family and cares about what people are going through. 

“After that, we wanted to live in Winston-Salem, and I have loved every minute of this job,” Owens says. 

He wants others to have that same experience. 

“More people are feeling really good about living in Winston-Salem,” Owens says. “Our population is growing and our community feels like we’re going in the right direction.”

Greater Winston-Salem Inc.’s win of the 2024 Chamber of the Year award is affirmation that the work the organization is doing within the community is working. Winston-Salem won out against some stiff competition from some much larger cities. 

“It’s a testament to our entire team at Greater Winston-Salem Inc., along with our board, investors, members, and partners who work with us,” Owens says. “We are leading the way in changing how Chambers of Commerce serve and lead in their communities, shifting to meet the needs of today’s employers and workforce. I am incredibly proud of our team and our city.”

And if the organization is able to achieve its three goals, your life will be greatly impacted–whether you realize it or not. If not immediately by where you work or shop, you’ll feel it in the way the community grows and thrives.

Learn more about why Greater Winston-Salem Inc. fits into the mission of the Innovation Quarter and what they have in common when it comes to promoting Winston-Salem.