Drew Williamson is the incoming chairman of the Laurinburg/Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce, a designation that brings pride to the Laurinburg attorney.
"I am very honored to be the chairman," Williamson said.
He said his pride in the chamber came from his youth.
"I grew up in Laurinburg," Willaimson recalled. "I remember the days when we recruited so many industries"
His father, also an attorney was involved in industrial recruitment when Williamson was young.
"I heard a lot about the chamber and economic development around the dinner table from my father."
His father's influed is part of why Williamson became involved in the community when he moved back to Laurinburg in 1984.
"I think the chamber is in a period of transition," Williamson said.
He hopes to help the chamber reevaluate its mission, though he believes economic development must remain the core purpose as it is the best way to serve current members.
Williamson has experience with both economic development and change within the chamber, having been a leader of the nonindustrial recuriting economic committee.
This committee was the chambers first attempt at looking beyond the traditional industrial recruitment, which had been the staple mean of luring jobs to Scotland County and many other areas for years.
"Our focus really was bringing in manufactring jobs... We thought it was important to expand our vision a little bit.
"Our focus began to evolve. Now that we no longer contract directly with the county and the city, we continue to consider other forms of economic development."
He said the chamber now aids Greg Icard, the county's economic developer, along with municipal leaders like Scotland County Manager Kevin Patterson and Laurinburg City Manager Ed Burchins.
"Our major focus right now is growing the chamber," Williamson
He says the body is looking inward and determining how best to increase its clout to best serve members.
Part of this initiative includes increasing the numbers of minority business owners on the chamber rolls.
"We realize how important it is to offer benefits to everyone inn the community and we hope to increase our minority membership," Williamson said. "We have tried to become a more diverse organization and that is an important part of our efforts to improve our chamber. We are trying to become the strongest organization we can be and that means we should offer benefits to all business owners and all community members."
Until recently, there were virtually no racial or ethnic minorities and no women represented in the membership of the chamber. Chamber President Theresa Lamson announced last year her intentions of changing this, holding the first ever minority breakfast for both current and potential chamber members.
He said the chamber is currently the top representative for local businesses as most companies either are current or past chamber members. Williamson hopes to grow this role.
Several seem excited about Williamson coming on as chairman, including Lamson.
"I am very excited to have Drew coming in as chairman," Lamson said.
She said Willaimson has a displayed long-term commitment to community development and to developing downtown Laurinburg.
The outgoing chairman, Allen McLaurin, agreed.
"Drew will do a wonderful job," McLaurin said. "He has been very active in beautification and other areas over the years with the chamber."
Williamson is a member of Laurinburg Presbyterian Church and has chaired boards for Presbyterian Homes and Scotia Village, served as president of the Laurinburg Rotary Club and has been involved with the Cape Fear Council of Governments. He is currently an attoreny at Williamson, Dean, Williamson & Sojka.
The ceremony will feature a farewell as well as an introduction current chairman in will officially become Past-Chairman Allen McLaurin.
Williamson applauded the job McLaurin has done as board chair.
"Allen and I both grew up in Lauyrinburg," Williamson said. "I know that he genuinely is committteed to Laurinburg and Scotland County growing. He and I share a lot of ideas and thoughts about how the community can grow... Allen has been a good leader for us in this past as we have begun this transition."
Lamson also had praise for the outgoing chair.
"I think Allen's leadership for the chamber was very timely," Lamson said. "I think what he has allowed us to do is get the every-man member involved."
Lamson says McLaurin is approachable and open to new ideas, both of which helped the chamber.
McLaurin acknowledged that he oversaw a period of change.
"We have gone through this transition where we were primarily focused on economic development and now we run the chamber," McLaurin
He said the chamber still supports economic development and businesses, but now plays a secondary role in recruitment to the county.
The sold-out dinner is tonight at 6:30 at the Highlands.
Duke Coach
The featured speaker at the annual event is David Cutcliffe, head football coach for Duke University.
Cutcliffe will pull from more than three decades of coaching to speak about leadership and learning to chamber members.
Before coming to Duke, Cutcliffe served the previous two seasons as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee. His head coaching experience includes a six-year stint at the University of Mississippi from 1999-04 where he compiled a 44-29 (.603) ledger with five winning seasons, five bowl game appearances and a share of the SEC Western Division championship in 2003. Cutcliffe was named the SEC Coach of the Year in 2003 after leading the Rebels to a 10-3 record including a 31-28 victory over Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl.
As a member of the coaching staff at Tennessee from 1982-98, Cutcliffe helped the Volunteers to four SEC championships, 16 bowl games in 17 seasons and the national title in 1998. His first tenure with the Vols featured the mentoring of quarterbacks Andy Kelly, Heath Shuler, Tee Martin and Peyton Manning.
On December 2, 1998, Cutcliffe was named the head coach at Mississippi. Immediately taking the reins, he coached Ole Miss in its 35-18 Independence Bowl win over Texas Tech to conclude the 1998 campaign.
While at Mississippi, Cutcliffe tutored 2003 SEC Player of the Year Eli Manning. The younger Manning brother was a first team All-America pick as a senior, closed his career with an SEC-record 10,119 passing yards, and was the top overall choice in the 2004 NFL Draft. In Manning’s fourth professional season, he guided the New York Giants to the Super Bowl and earned MVP honors after throwing for 255 yards and two touchdowns in a 17-14 win over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots on February 3, 2008.
In the spring of 2005, Cutcliffe joined the coaching staff at Notre Dame, but resigned from the post for health reasons. He then returned to Knoxville prior to the 2006 season. Cutcliffe helped the Volunteers to a 19-8 record from 2006-07 with two appearances in the Outback Bowl. In 2007, Tennessee went 10-4 with a 6-2 league mark en route to winning the SEC Eastern Division crown.
Cutcliffe joined Duke to become the 21st head football coach on December 15, 2007. In 2008, Cutcliffe guided the Blue Devils to a 4-8 overall record against the nation’s second-most difficult schedule, matching the program’s win total from the previous four seasons combined. He brought instant enthusiasm to the Duke campus as season ticket sales increased by over 60 percent, and Wallace Wade Stadium was host to four crowds of over 30,000 for the first time in school history.
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