Timeline

1970

1971 – The Chamber helped establish the Northern Kentucky Area Development District

1976 – Region’s mass transit system, TANK, was in jeopardy of shutting down due to inadequate funding.  The Chamber led a community effort to establish a stable funding source and save the system.

1978 – Leadership Northern Kentucky established

1978 – Formed Northern Kentucky Port Authority on the Licking River

1980

Championed combining services for Northern Kentucky, leading to consolidation of water and sewer services.

1986 – The Chamber hires John Garman, CCE to become its second president.  Chamber leaders establish a new, separate organization to lead industry recruitment efforts to grow economic development activity in the three-county region.  A unique organization known as the Tri-County Economic Development Corporation is formed with its leadership rotated each year among the Judges Executives of Boone, Campbell and Kenton Counties.

 
1989 – The Northern Kentucky Capital Consensus Committee was formed as a regional group of business and governmental leaders charged with creating and implementing a process to determine and prioritize large regional capital construction and transportation projects requiring funding from the state.  Still in existence today, the group has worked to lobby Kentucky’s General Assembly and Executive Branch to secure millions of dollars in funding for key projects such as the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Juvenile Detention Center, NKU Natural Science Center, and a new campus for Gateway Community and Technical College.

1990

1990 – The Education Alliance of Northern Kentucky was formed to promote regional education initiatives and create partnerships between businesses and schools.  The Work Ethic Diploma was created through the collaborative work of business people and educators and awarded annually to approximately 1,200 students at area high schools.

1990 – The Chamber lobbied for the $355 million dollar expansion at CVG airport.
Chamber establishes Workforce Development Collaborative to address worker shortages and training challenges in the region hiring new staff and securing funding from Tri-ED and other sources to fund major initiatives.  The initiative becomes a mainstay of the Chamber’s annual program of work.

1995 – Northern Kentucky Tri-ED and the Chamber launched a community planning and economic development initiative known as Quest:  A Vision for Northern Kentucky to develop 44 goals related to the economy, education, governance, culture, community development, education and regionalism.  Forward Quest was formed in 1996 to implement the vision.  The effort was renewed in the early 2000s as Vision 2015.

1999 – Chamber hires Gary Toebben, CCE as the Chamber’s third president.  The organization completes a new headquarters in Ft. Mitchell, KY and moves from RiverCenter in Covington.

2000

2000 – The Chamber traveled to Washington, D.C. and lobbied U.S. Secretary of Transportation to intervene in settling the Comair strike that put 4,500 employees out of work.  Meetings were facilitated by the Chamber between labor and management in an effort to encourage a settlement.

2001 – Requested $650,000 in funding for the creation of the Madison E-Zone , an incubator  created to develop the New Economy in NKY.

2003 – Lobbied General Assembly to secure a new type of tax incentive  targeted to attract large scale tourism development projects.  Using this tool, this incentive  led to the construction of the $100 million Newport on the Levee project.

2004 – Chamber begins long-term state and federal lobbying effort to secure funding for the construction of the Brent Spence Bridge.  

2006 – Chamber hires Steve Stevens, CCE as the Chamber’s fourth president.

 
2008 – The Chamber receives the U.S. Chamber’s highest level of Accreditation - Five-Star - one of only 47 chambers of commerce in the nation with the distinction.

2008 –  Northern Kentucky’s most prestigious young professionals organization – Legacy - merges with the Chamber.

2009 – The Chamber establishes a Women’s Initiative to support women in business and assist them in leadership development, building peer networks and creating mentor/mentee relationships.

2010

2010 – The Chamber conducts its first-ever trade and tourism mission to the Republic of China.

2011 – The Northern Kentucky Chamber receives award from the American Chamber of Commerce Executives designating the organization as having the best international trade program among Chambers of Commerce in the U.S. and Canada.

2020

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2030

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2040

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