Donalds expresses water-quality support at chamber-hosted meeting
By CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - | Apr 13, 2021
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An island delegation showed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds island waters on a morning boat tour. Front row, chamber President John Lai, Mayor Holly Smith, “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society President Sarah Ashton, SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Chauncey Goss and SCCF Environmental Policy Director James Evan; back row, Captains for Clean Water’s Jessica Pinsky and Capt. Chris Whitman, Donalds’ support team members Jesse Purdon and Larry Wilcoxson, Donalds and J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge Manager Kevin Godsea.
The Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce hosted U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds for Florida’s 19th District on April 5 to meet with community organization and business leaders on the topic of water-quality legislation. The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation provided a boat tour of Tarpon Bay for a small delegation. Following that,
Chamber honors awardees, names new officers
By CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - | Apr 14, 2021
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Past Chair Brian Kautz, left, and incoming Chair Mark Blust, right, present former Sanibel Mayor Mick Denham with the chamber’s 2021 Citizen of the Year Award.
In a nudge toward a return to normalcy, the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce held its annual meeting on April 7 in an outdoor venue at the Dunes Golf & Tennis Club with a limited number of attendees.
“In a normal pre-pandemic year, we could have been hosting nearly 180 people indoors,” chamber President John Lai said. “Last year, we skipped the meeting altogether. This year, we invited fewer than 50 board members and the winners of the 2021 annual awards, which we honored that evening.”
Lee County tourism director ‘bullish’ about summer
By CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - | Mar 12, 2021
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Tamara Pigott
Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau Executive Director Tamara Pigott is looking to the summer with optimism, she told Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce members at a March 10 virtual business meeting.
“I’m very bullish on the summer,” she said. “We are going to have a bang-up summer. We don’t know what we are going to do with all the people who will be coming we are expecting that much demand. It’s going to be like season this summer; fingers crossed, that’s how I’m looking at it.”
Business Notes
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Ryan Powell
The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum has named Ryan Powell as its new finance manager.
Powell, who has lived in the Fort Myers area for most of his life, completed his bachelor’s in accounting at Florida Gulf Coast University. He most recently worked as an accountant for Wiltshire, Whitley, Richardson & English, a Fort Myers accounting firm. Powell also brings extensive management experience to the museum, after working for Publix Super Markets for 14 years.
His volunteer work with the United Way and its partner agencies over the years has shifted his interest to working in the nonprofit realm, and Powell is thrilled to join the museum team and become a part of the Sanibel community.