CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce has had a longstanding partnership with the University of West Florida’s Small Business Development Center.
Thursday morning that partnership grew even stronger.
“The S.B.D.C. has a very long history in our community,” chamber President Alicia Booker said. “This strengthens that relationship.”
Chamber Executive Director Wayne Harris said when he first arrived at the chamber years ago, small business consultant Tom Hermanson, who keeps weekly office hours at the chamber, was reading a book.
“I never get any visitors,” Harris recalled Hermanson saying.
“I said, ‘We’re going to turn that around,’” Harris said.
At the monthly chamber of commerce breakfast meeting, Booker and University of West Florida president, Dr. Judy Bense, signed a memorandum of understanding,
“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Harris said. “This is putting it in stone.”
“One thing I learned very quickly in life is to form good partnerships,” Bense said. “The only people looking out for us is us.”
Hermanson is available for chamber member businesses to consult each Wednesday or by appointment. His office is in the chamber of commerce, 1447 Commerce Dr. in Crestview.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Chamber of Commerce and UWF formalize small business agreement