Here we go, a brand new year – welcome to 2019! I’ll start by saying how excited I am and very much looking forward to working with Bruce Feldman, of Gove and Feldman Insurance, our 2019 Board President, and the entire Board of Directors. Rounding out our Executive Board are Pat Slade who moves to Chairperson, Tony
Sapienza who becomes our 1st Vice President and Mike Luster who remains as our trusted Treasurer, Bill Scott continues as our steadfast At-Large member, and we welcome Susan Gould-Coviello onto the Executive Board as 2nd Vice President, lining-up for Presidency in 2021.Our 2019 Board President Bruce Feldman is the owner of Gove and Feldmance Insurance Agency, a business founded in the mid 1940s. As a member of the Chamber’s Business Education Collaborative, Bruce is very involved with our Education initiatives and Chamber programs overall.

I want to express my sincere appreciation to Pat Slade for her service as our 2018 President. Pat spent hundreds of hours last year leading the Board, attending ALL of our events, and working directly with me and our Chamber team. Pat was a main reason for our record-breaking 2018 and is very much still a part of our leadership team.
Our mission and three main priorities remain unchanged this year:
• Promotion: of our business members and the Cape Ann region as a visitor destination
• Economic Development: toward the overall enhancement of the business environment to help
local businesses grow and to encourage new businesses to locate to the area
• Training & Education: of our members on business-related matters, and working with our region’s
schools towards the educational enrichment of Cape Ann’s next generation of business
professionals

And of course, let’s not forget the Cape Ann License Plate – we see more on the road every day. The Cape Ann Community Foundation manages the license plate proceeds, and over the past two years awarded $24,000 in grants to many area non-profits and a school project. We are looking forward to seeing many more of our Cape’s plates on the road, and helping to award additional grants this year.

The recent impact of the Chamber’s Programs and Services and high level of re-engagement with the Cape Ann community is a credit to our small, and incredibly talented and dedicated Chamber team.