Derreberry offers bright business vision

APRIL 9, 2012 — Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bryan Derreberry gave a pumped-up, enthusiastic vision of the future for the tri-county area.

“Whatever we believe in the future is what we will become,” he said, noting that communities generally take three approaches toward what’s next — squabbling over resources, envying other communities or taking the bull by the horns to leverage opportunities.

The Charleston area, he said, is taking the third approach, as evidenced by its new $5 million, five-year “Accelerate Greater Charleston” campaign to help business prospects better understand the region’s business potential beyond traditional tourism and other industries. Among top target clusters with big future potential are port/logistics, aerospace, wind/energy, health care/biomedical, military/security and higher education.

Derreberry also urged Rotarians to support a better K-20 education system, including a Chamber focus on working with public education officials to create “career academies” — places where high school students can get targeted, specialized skills that will help them get jobs in areas that local businesses need help. Three core academies are expected to focus on science/technology; culinary arts and hospitality; and health sciences.

“Upon graduation from these academies, students will be much better prepared,” he said.

When asked how to deal with perceptions that the local public schools face a lot of challenges not attractive to businesses, Derreberry said career academies in Nashville and Pensacola have helped improve graduation rates because students get hooked on areas where they can get jobs. And that, in turn, makes them “much more likely to finish high school.”

Career academies also would provide more opportunities for area businesses to take part in public education through internships, job shadowing and more. “We have to tackle it one opportunity at a time and build it out in the next five years,” he said.

Derreberry also pushed strong leadership, partnerships and integrity — doing what we as a community say we’ll do — as keys to future success. He encouraged local leaders to look at 18th and 19th governmental structures, and adapt them to the 21st century.

Reported by Andy Brack , Keyway Committee