The Stoney Creek Chamber of Commerce held its Annual General Meeting Sept. 16 at Liuna Gardens to say goodbye to president Bennie Esposto and hello to the 2008/09 executive, which includes new president Brad Perco.

"I'm very excited, thrilled and honoured to be following in Bennie's footsteps," said Mr. Perco. "It's tough to follow somebody, who has done such a great job."

During his two-year term, Mr. Esposto brought stability to the chamber and provided good leadership, says Mr. Perco.

"He had a good vision and put a lot of hard work into it, making sure that we stick to our plan to give back to the members - whether it be through providing informative guest speakers or just being in the community," he said. "It takes someone to kind of have the vision and then everybody else to help out and formalize how to do it. We have a great board and they're all from different sectors in the community, so we try and draw on that experience."

Mr. Perco says the chamber is working on formalizing internal policies.

"A few years ago, we were at 200 or 300 members and now we're at about 450 members, so when you grow that much over a couple of years, some of the formal policies really get lost, so we're trying to go back and make sure things are formalized for future boards," he said.

Part of that process involves devising a strategic plan for the chamber for the next five years, says Mr. Perco.

"The growth has been good, it's just a matter of how to keep improving it," he said.

The chamber board also holds meetings with the Hamilton board to create a collective voice within the area.

"Our large goals for businesses are usually similar to what Hamilton's doing, so if we can agree on what the main issues are than we can push things in the right direction," he said.

Locally, it's all about helping businesses to grow and get better, says Mr. Perco.

"If we can do that by holding various events and acting as a voice in the community than that's what we're going to continue to do," he said. "At the end of the day, it's all about helping businesses to achieve good things."

Upcoming chamber events include the Mayor's Annual Luncheon on Oct. 2, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.; and Breakfast with George Torok on Nov. 18, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. Both events will take place at the Grand Olympia .

For more information, call the chamber office at 905-664-4000.