Anderson leaves Dalton to head Columbus, Ga., Chamber of Commerce
Brian Anderson, a former chairman of the Whitfield County Commission who has led the Dalton/ Whitfield County Chamber of Commerce for the past six and a half years, is leaving Dalton next month to head the Chamber of Commerce in Columbus, Ga., effective June 1.
“Dalton has been home to my wife and children for 15 years and is a wonderful community, so we leave with mixed emotions,” Anderson said Thursday in announcing his decision to accept the job in Columbus, Ga. “I saw this as an opportunity to lead a larger Chamber organization that, like the Greater Dalton Chamber, has achieved the 5-Star Accreditation from the U.S. Chamber.”
Anderson, who also was a candidate last year to head the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, succeeds Mike Gaymon, who retired last fall after more than 25 years at the helm of the Columbus Chamber.
“Columbus is very fortunate to have recruited someone with Brian’s vast and varied Chamber, business, political and military background and we are confident he will lead this Chamber forward,” said Troy Woods, chairman of the Columbus, Ga., Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Columbus-based credit-card and payment processing firm TSYS.
Anderson, who has an economics degree from Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C., also served in the U. S. Army as a military intelligence off icer. In Dalton, he served as chairman of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners from 2005 to 2008 and worked for eight years as a sales and marketing manager with Dalton Beverage Co., before becoming CEO of the Dalton Chamber in October 2008.
Despite one of the worst economic recessions ever in the Carpet Capital, the Dalton Chamber under Anderson assisted in the creation of more than 3,600 direct jobs, 1,900 indirect jobs and more than $ 791 million in new investment. At the Dalton Chamber, Anderson also helped recruit Georgia Northwestern Technical College to Dalton and recently assisted in the efforts to pass a Redevelopment Powers Referendum and the recent community SPLOST.
“Although we are disappointed to lose Brian as our president and CEO, he has given fully of himself in leading our Chamber and our community. I am confident he will be just as successful in Columbus,” said attorney Robert Smalley, the chairman of the Greater Dalton Chamber executive board.
Smalley said the Chamber board will form a search committee to find a successor to Anderson.
Anderson is a member of the Georgia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, Georgia Economic Developer’s Association, and the Southern Economic Development Council. He serves on the State Workforce Investment Board ( appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2014) and the North Georgia Regional Commission Board ( appointed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in 2009). Anderson was president in 2013 of the Dalton Rotary Club.