Wesley Branch
President & CEO of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce David Bradley at his desk after talking with Wes Branch. Bradley and Branch spoke on a variety of topics including the future of the business scene in Athens, Georgia.
David Bradley is the president and CEO of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, which has grown to over 900 members since David Bradley started his position in 2018.
Comments trimmed for length and clarity
Q: Why did you decide to pursue a career in business?
A: Everything that you do involves business in some way, shape or form. My family had a pretty substantive business background. So, when I got out of Guilford College in Greensboro, I had the opportunity to go back to my hometown in North Carolina, which was Mount Airy, and ultimately ran a manufacturing plant.
Q: How would you really describe the current business scene in Athens?
A: The economy here in Athens is, I mean, astoundingly diverse. The University of Georgia is easily the largest driver, largest employer. When you have 42 or 43,000 students, you automatically have a solid spending base.
Q: What would your advice be to somebody like myself or other members of the media that are looking to cover more news, or stories or just facts about the local businesses here in Athens and the business culture?
A: I think it’s just to try to be as connected as you possibly can. We could reel off 10 wickedly cool story opportunities. Just be connected and don’t be afraid to ask.
Q: What does the future look like for businesses in Athens or business as a whole?
A: The stage is set for us to really explode, the region. We’re going to see a good deal of that here in Athens but to be very honest with you, we can’t bring a whole lot more business into the community because we don’t have much more land. But as the region grows, Athens will continue to be the entertainment hub, will continue to be the health care hub, will continue to be the workforce hub. Athens business climate over the course of the next 20 years is, I think, will be the best we’ve ever had.
Q: For those that, I guess, don’t really know what workforce development is, or what that really looks like, how would you describe what exactly that is?
A: Workforce development in my mind is a threefold process. You have to figure out what can you do to help today in a short term, how do you get people employed over the course of the next year? Midterm is how do you start working with middle school students to begin to look at career development and opportunities that don’t require a four year degree probably or they may, maybe they do and but many don’t. But I think the long term workforce development starts at Pre-K level.
Why I Wrote the Story
This story was written to help the author and the readers gain a better understanding of the Athens business scene and culture. Through this story, David Bradley and I were able to discuss different topics relating to Athens business which helped me learn more about the business beat.