Dear Members and Friends:

                I am excited to be the new Director of the South Carolina Chapter of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States.  I would also like to introduce Harry Simon of AllMetals as Co-Director, and Steve Cooper of Rödl Elliott Dendorfer LLC as Treasurer.  One of my many goals for this Chapter is to work closely with Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville to hold events and build a bridge across the State. In the future, we will be holding Chapter functions in all three locations and want to encourage all members to participate in these events across the state whenever possible. It is important to me to be meeting a lot of the existing and new members in the future, and to bring our already influential German-American business network to a more communicating level.

                Our Management team met last week and determined that we would establish the following subcommittees to solicit help from the members in planning the details associated with various activities with the Chamber.  The subcommittees are:  Newcomers (for people relocating to South Carolina), Membership, Networking/Events, and Bier Fest 2007.  Please email Tanja Zehntner tzehntner(at)contextdg.net and me davidlewis(at)contextdg.net and let us know if you are interested in serving in any of these committees. 

                This is a wonderful opportunity to be getting to know another culture entirely and to take advantage of our many events and complimentary offers.  It is essential to make our Chapter grow and to increase the membership with other Businesses and Business Partners all throughout South Carolina, and to have this chapter be influential and stronger amidst our neighboring Chapters.  If any of you know of companies or individuals who are interested in joining the GACC South, please forward this letter to them or provide us with their contact information.

These are just a few facts why I am delighted to be your new Director of the South Carolina Chapter of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States and I am definitely looking forward to get Charleston and Columbia integrated with us to become a Statewide Organization.

Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions.

Let’s get started!

David W. Lewis

Director of the South Carolina Chapter