In 2004 Greater Louisville Inc. – The Metro Chamber of Commerce won the American Chamber of Commerce Executives' prestigious National Alliance for Membership Development Division's Award For Excellence in the Over $1 million annual membership dues division.

The AFE award sets the standards for excellence for chambers of commerce and similar organizations across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

GLI qualified for the award when it scored above the national average in net gain in members, member dollars, and retention in 2003. It became a finalist when its programs and operations were selected as being among the best in the nation by an expert panel of membership development professionals.

Among the programs reviewed by AFE judges included: the Greater Louisville Inc. Development Expedition (GLIDE), which takes local business and community leaders to competitor cities to study their best practices; WorkInLouisville.org, the job portal created by GLI, KentuckianaWorks, MyCareerNetwork.com and Career Resources, Inc.; Inc.tank, GLI's small business arm; the restructuring of GLI's corporate marketing efforts; and GLI's new internal hiring process.

"We have always prided ourselves on offering strong programs and services to our members and the community," GLI President and CEO Steve Higdon said. "While this award recognizes the outstanding work we're doing, we will continue to improve upon the wide array of benefits, programs and projects we offer."

In addition, GLI also won an ACCE Economic & Business Development Campaign/Program Award of Excellence for the 2003 Work/Life Alliance Awards, an ACCE Most Improved Electronic Communications Award of Merit for Special Edition Ink and an ACCE Tourism Community Pride Campaign Honorable Mention for the 16th Largest City Campaign.