Page 27 - BEQ Magazine Iss 19

Two

Chambers

That statement by Kevin Sheilley, president to find a solution.
and CEO of the Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic “The Ocala area was especially hard hit during
Partnership in Florida, sums up why the organization the Great Recession and struggled to come out of
was named the 2020 National Chamber of the it,” Sheilley said. “A group of business leaders, of
Year by the Association of Chamber of Commerce their own volition, decided the community could not
Executives. And more importantly, why more than continue to do what it had been doing and visited
1400 businesses are invested in the Ocala Metro CEP. approximately a dozen communities they viewed as
When the housing bubble burst in 2008, Ocala successful. One of the common attributes from each
was hit hard. The economic hub of Marion County, of these cities was a singular ‘voice of the business
this small city in central Florida saw economic community’.”
progress slow to a standstill. Previously enjoying Determined to provide a path out of the Great
robust growth, building and development stopped Recession and recognizing the need for a new type
and commerce slowed. By 2012, with economic of business organization, leaders merged the five-
recovery still sluggish, local business leaders set out star Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce

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