One Region Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce Meeting at CIVS
One Region Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce held its meeting at CIVS on February 18th. Lakeshore Chamber Commerce’s mission is to be a voice for business and a forum for the exchange of ideas, and through a variety of its programs and services, strengthen the economic vitality of East Chicago, Hammond, and Northwest Indiana. CIVS Director Chenn Zhou warmly welcomed the attendees and Senior Research Engineer Armin Silaen shared highlights of the ongoing and upcoming projects/researches at CIVS such as the development of continuous caster digital caster, AR/VR safety simulator, and the newly awarded Integrated Virtual Blast Furnace project by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Jeff Rea, CCE, IOM, the current president and CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, was the featured speaker in the meeting. In his position, Mr. Rea represents the interests of more than 1,000 member businesses that employ over 60,000 people in the region. Mr. Rea guides the South Bend Regional Chamber efforts in their three strategic areas of focus: economic development, public policy/advocacy and destination marketing. Under his leadership, the South Bend Regional Chamber of Chamber has been recognized as the Indiana Chamber of the Year, was a two-time runner-up for National Chamber of the Year, and has achieved 5-Star accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an honor achieved by only 105 of the 7,022 chambers of commerce in the country.
