The Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet is slated for Thursday, February 16 at 6 p.m. at the Wendell Mitchell Conference Center on the LBW Community College’s Greenville campus.

Guest speaker for the eighth edition of this event will be Jeff Lynn, who has served as the Senior Executive Director of Workforce and Economic Development for the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) since October 2016. A graduate of Auburn University, Lynn has a B.S. degree in Organizational Management.

“I am excited to have Jeff Lynn as our guest speaker this year,” says Wasden. “Although he is in a new position with our Community College System, he has had quite a bit of experience in Economic Development and Workforce Development. I really believe Workforce Development is key right now and those communities who are prepared will be the ones that will move forward and see tremendous growth in the next few years.”  Lynn is a certified economic development trainer with more than 30 years of experience in the manufacturing, corporate, IT and customer support sectors of business and industry. Prior to joining the ACCS, he developed and launched LED FastStart, which became the number one workforce development program in the country for seven consecutive years. LED FastStart provides customized workforce solutions for new and expanding companies in Lousiana.

Lynn’s specialty has been large-scale manufacturing startups with special emphasis on transfer of technology for operations.  He also started manufacturing certification programs that was offered in the Community and Technical College System and in high schools across Louisiana.

Before moving to Louisiana, Lynn served in a similar capacity in state workforce development leadership. While working in the Georgia workforce program, he built a program that maintained a No. 1 or No. 2 national ranking for the decade he served in that capacity in Georgia. Prior to joining Georgia’s program, he served in several leadership roles for Ciba Vision, a Novartis company in Duluth, Georgia.

“I really believe Workforce Development is key right now and those communities who are prepared will be the ones that will move forward and see tremendous growth in the next few years,” says Wasden.  “Mr. Lynn will give us an up-to-date look at how State Government is working with our Community College System in providing cutting edge technology to move our state forward.  We look forward to having him as our speaker and hope our community will support the Chamber of Commerce with their attendance. “

After a long hiatus, the annual banquet has become a signature event for the Chamber’s calendar.

“Our first Chamber Banquet under my tenure was February, 2010.  There had not been a banquet held since before Ralph Stacy was director,” says Francine Wasden, Chamber director.

“We are looking forward to a another enjoyable and informative event for our Chamber members.””

Tickets to the banquet are $25 each and available at the Chamber Depot. For more information, contact the GACoC at 382-3251.