New Palm Beach Chamber President Shares Love & Plans for the Island

As I was driving down Ocean Boulevard on my way into “town,” I couldn’t help but think how fortunate I am to live in such a wonderful place. The vivid blue ocean was at high tide and the sun was sparkling on this balmy December day.

St. Tropez? Cannes? No, just a place I consider the pearl of the United States, my hometown of Palm Beach. A couple of months ago I was selected as the new President and CEO of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce which to me is an honor beyond belief.

With the mass migration from the Northeast over the past two years due to the pandemic, South Florida and indeed the Palm Beaches have become a major destination for not only a holiday break, but a place to start a business and raise a family.

For us in Palm Beach which is a little barrier island and home to 9,000 full-time residents, we see our town as the perfect place to live, work and play.

From the designer shops on Worth Avenue and the Royal Poinciana Plaza to the top-notch restaurants that dot the island, those who come here to stay in one of the world-class hotels on the island, including the legendary Breakers and historic and chic Colony Hotel, get a little taste of this slice of paradise.

As not only the Town of Palm Beach continues to address issues like traffic and parking, we do it in concert with the surrounding towns like West Palm Beach and Wellington who are also seeing unprecedented growth.

Most recently West Palm Beach has been nicknamed “Wall Street South” due to all the financial firms moving into the beautiful new high-rises overlooking the Intracoastal Waterways.

The Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce is working daily with our members to find ways for them to grow while maintaining the incredible quality of life we enjoy on the island.

They, like so many other businesses, are dealing with the same issues from around the country, such as finding incredible people to work for them and affordable places to live. In addition to this, the retail spaces in the town are at 100% capacity which simply means there aren’t available spaces to lease for business expansion.

Meanwhile, just across the Intracoastal in West Palm Beach, there is a beehive of activity with lots of great nightlife and fun restaurants to visit every night of the week. The combination of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach and adjoining towns, make this one of the best destinations in the country, if not the world.

Over the next few articles, I’ll be featuring some of our known and not so known businesses on the Island and why they are unique to Palm Beach. If that won’t inspire you to come bask in the golden sunshine and blue waves, well, I don’t know what will!

Visit the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce at palmbeachchamber.com.