Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce

Member Spotlight: Wise - An international money transfer company with an office and big presence here in Austin! Using Wise is one of the easiest ways to pay and get paid globally - you can move money where it matters: from paying your mortgage in Euros to sending Rupees overseas. You can learn more about Wise at https://hubs.ly/Q02_-STl0

Congratulations to our Executive Committee Member Denise Davis, who was just honored by the Austin Bar Association with their Distinguished Lawyer Award! 🎉 She will be honored at their annual gala in January. https://lnkd.in/gDguM-C7

We're now registering Austin businesses to host interns for our 2025 Summer High School Internship Program with Austin Independent School District and Austin Ed Fund - check out this video highlighting our intern Joaquin's experience interning at GarzaEMC. Early exposure to career opportunities is essential for students, and by hosting an intern, you are investing in Austin's future workforce. Now's your chance to make a difference! For more information, email our Education and Workforce Policy manager, Eric Hale at [email protected].

That's a wrap on our final event of the year: Legislative Preview! Thanks to our bipartisan group- Glenn Hegar, Donna Howard, and Caroline Harris Davila, who gave us a great look at the policy issues that will impact Central Texas next year. We're so grateful for our program sponsor, Austin Transit Partnership. Thank you to everyone who supported Austin Chamber at our events this year - we are so excited for what's ahead in 2025!

We applaud the Austin City Council’s unanimous adoption of Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan to 2035, a critical framework that ensures the continued delivery of reliable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable power to our community. This plan reflects the community’s core values, focusing on energy equity, sustainability, and reliability while driving progress toward the goal of 100% carbon-free energy by 2035. It outlines key strategies including the phasing out of coal, expanding renewable energy resources, enhancing energy efficiency programs, and leveraging local solutions like utility-scale batteries to strengthen grid reliability. The Austin Chamber stands in strong support of these efforts, which will provide a flexible and forward-thinking path to a cleaner energy future while ensuring the continued economic vitality and resilience of our city. Thank you to our board and members for their support in this effort!

This morning, we hosted our final Tacos and Topics event of the year! Thank you to Hugh Forrest and the entire SXSW family for bringing us great content, sneak peeks, and fun all year long, and thank you to our presenting sponsor of the Tacos & Topics series, Latham & Watkins. Stay tuned for info on our January edition of Tacos and Topics coming soon!

We've added more panelists to Thursday's Legislative Preview event...and there are only a few tickets left! Rep. John H. Bucy III (D-Austin) and Rep. Caroline Harris Davila (R-Round Rock) will be joining Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) and Rep. Angelia Orr (R-Itasca) on a bipartisan panel where they will be discussing their priorities next session and their takes on what issues will dominate the discussion next year. The event also will feature a keynote from Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. You can get your tickets here: https://hubs.ly/Q02--Hx80

Thank you to Mayor Kirk Watson, the team from Austin Convention Center, and all our panelists from Turner Construction Company, JE Dunn Construction, LMN Architects, Visit Austin, and Page who gathered yesterday at Indeed Tower to discuss plans for the redevelopment of Austin's new Convention Center and the impact that the project will have on our community. With a bigger, reimagined convention center, the economic impact to Austin is estimated to jump to over $750 million annually, from the current $468 million. You can get all the latest information on the redevelopment plan here: https://hubs.ly/Q02-MyQH0

If you missed our Economic Outlook event, check out the story in Austin Business Journal with some great quotes from Regions Bank's Alan McKnight on what's ahead for our economy. https://hubs.ly/Q02-LWrl0

Congratulations to our member SOAL Technologies - Perfect Hire, Guaranteed!, who was just honored as a top workplace by Austin American-Statesman for the 5th year in a row!! 🎉 You can find out more about SOAL and their efforts to create an incredible workplace on our blog: https://hubs.ly/Q02-D8200