“[The board of directors] felt that we need to reflect the membership, the footprint and also [consider]—how do we remain and grow to be a more sustainable organization going forward and to attract the kind of members that want to be a part of this and want to be active in this?” board member Andrew Van Chau said.
Van Chau said the name change will allow the chamber to better align its branding with where the chamber’s members do business and that about 70 percent of the chamber’s members operate outside of Fulshear. He expects it to also keep new members who may operate outside of Fulshear from walking away out of concern the organization is too focused on Fulshear.
The chamber currently has about 460 member businesses, Van Chau said. Of those, only about 160 are in Fulshear, and the rest are located outside Fulshear’s city limits with many located in Katy. Some members are as far away as the east side of Houston or even in central Waller County, according to maps provided by the chamber.
Van Chau said the Fulshear-based chamber has met with the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce multiple times and the Katy Area chamber supports the name change. The chambers are not in a competition with one another, he said, but rather work together to ensure that member businesses succeed. Van Chau pointed out that many businesses belong to multiple chambers of commerce for the opportunities chambers provide.
The Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber of Commerce will continue to work to grow its member profile and visibility through monthly meetings, community events, being engaged in the community, offering networking opportunities, advocating for businesses with area governments and partnering with other chambers and economic development councils, Van Chau said.
Several chamber members present at the meeting credited chamber President Don McCoy with helping the chamber grow quickly. McCoy said the organization was founded in 2014 with about 20 businesses and has grown quickly not only from his leadership but also from having a very active member base.
Since its founding in 2014, the Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber of Commerce has grown from 20 Fulshear-based businesses to more than 400 businesses throughout the Greater Houston area. Blue pins indicate Fulshear-based member businesses, green are Katy-based member businesses and the remainder are throughout Greater Houston.[/caption]
