Brooklyn's Progress
April/May 2005

By Maggie Beaute-Lucien

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the Manhattan, the New Bronx, the Staten Island, and the Queens Chambers of Commerce, presented the Five-Borough Chamber Networking Event at the Brooklyn Museum in Crown Heights. Over 500 business professionals were in attendance at this Members-only event, demonstrating the collective strength of New York City’s five borough-wide chambers. The Brooklyn Chamber made a strong showing with over 225 of its Members attending.

The evening’s festivities on March 2 included an energetic Brooklyn greeting from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, great networking and entertainment.  Henoch Getz of NYSKETCHES provided a Charlie Chaplain impersonator and a caricaturist.

The traditional door prize drawing was held at the close of the event in which five lucky winners each received one of the gift baskets presented by each chamber.  The Brooklyn Chamber’s basket was a gorgeous creation that included donated items from Brooklyn HealthWorks, the Chamber’s affordable health insurance plan for eligible small businesses and sole proprietors in Northern Brooklyn; Chocolate Printing Company, Focus Marketing and US Coffee.  The winner of the Brooklyn Chamber basket was John Gibbs of Chase Merchant Services.

Many thanks go to Lavita McMath, Government Relations Officer and Schawannah Wright, Community Involvement Manager of the Brooklyn Museum, the evening’s host.  Also, thanks go out to the Chamber Presidents: Kenneth Adams, Brooklyn Chamber, Nancy Ploeger, Manhattan Chamber, Linda Baran, Staten Island Chamber, Lenny Caro and Frank Cassano, New Bronx Chamber, and William Egan, Queens Chamber. 

The Five-Borough Chamber Networking Event was sponsored by Steve Denes, Atlantis Health Plan; Stephen Hindy, Brooklyn Brewery; Stuart Leffler, Con Edison; Robert Handel and Ceylon Frett, Cortel Business Solutions; Evan Tabickman, HealthPass; Patricia Cole, JPMorgan Chase; April Dubison, KeySpan; and Joe Sciame, St. John’s University.

The Five-Borough Chamber Networking Events launched in the summer of 2003, with the inaugural event hosted by the Manhattan Chamber.  The Brooklyn Chamber hosted the fourth joint networking event.  The fifth joint networking event will be held later this year, as the event evolves, more information will be provided on ibrooklyn.com.

In the meantime, the Brooklyn Chamber will continue with its regular monthly networking event – Business After Hours (BAH).  The next BAH will take place on Wed., May 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., sponsored by Muss Development at their Oceana Condominium and Club in Brighton Beach.

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s monthly networking events are great ways to meet other Members, make new business contacts and have a great time along the way.  To find out how your business can host a Business After Hours event or sponsor the door prize, contact Special Events Director Maggie Beaute-Lucien at 718-875-1000 ext. 105.