There has never been a better time to be in Louisville, Kentucky or to be a member of Greater Louisville Inc. - The Metro Chamber of Commerce.

This past year was the greatest in The Chamber's history. Not only did we win the ACCE Award for Excellence, but we also celebrated the success of our first Total Resource Campaign, an all-volunteer effort that help raised GLI's awareness throughout the community.

The community itself also enjoyed a successful year. The openings of 4th Street Live and the Frazier Historical Arms Museum brought scores of people downtown. Gallopalooza celebrated the rich diversity of local artists and generated more than $700,000 for Brightside and other worthy causes. The latest Inc. 500 featured six local businesses on the list of fastest-growing privately held businesses, the largest local contingent since 2001.

Great progress was made on such important projects as the Ohio River Bridges Project and the Muhammad Ali Center. CitiCards, Maverick Tube, National Tobacco and many other companies invested millions of dollars in economic development projects and created thousands of new jobs.

In the past year, Louisville made giant steps toward fulfilling the vision of becoming an economic hotspot, and I believe we are well on our way to making that a reality. What we need now is a plan to parlay our past successes into accomplishing the vision we created eight years ago.

Such a plan needs to focus on three specific issues - tax modernization, infrastructure improvements and educational attainment. This past year, we took an initial step by partnering with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to sponsor an economic impact study by Dr. Paul Coomes.

Using that report, we initiated discussions with business leaders from across the state on curing the state's financial woes. This isn't a problem just for the large cities, but for all Kentucky communities. And we must work together in finding a solution to make us all more competitive.

We would not have enjoyed a successful 2004 without the investments or the contributions of time and talent from GLI's members. Your investment is bringing about positive change in the community, and for that, we thank you.

As I have said, we still have several challenges that await us in the year ahead. However, thanks to your time and investment in the community, I'm positive we will work together and find solutions for those challenges. The light before us is green. It's time for us to move forward, to grow and to prosper.

I wish you the best and look forward to working with you in the days ahead.

Sincerely,

Steve Higdon
President and CEO
Greater Louisville Inc.