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Winston-Salem Business Groups Will Merge In 2020

WFDD file photo

Winston-Salem's two leading civic business groups are joining forces to create a unified marketing operation. The city's Chamber of Commerce will team with Winston-Salem Business Inc., with the merger scheduled for sometime in 2020.

The goal is to submit a leadership and governance structure proposal by next April.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports while the organizations will continue to operate separately for the time being, the boards of directors for both groups have approved a merger that will incorporate new branding and marketing strategies.

Bob Leak Jr. is the president of Winston-Salem Business, which spun off from the chamber in 1989.  Leak says the time is right to redefine economic development in the face of regional changes, including the planned move of BB&T to Charlotte.

Leak's organization has traditionally handled recruitment efforts, while the chamber has concentrated on businesses already established in the community.

Mayor Allen Joines praised the merger, saying that “having a single voice for recruitment and retention will be helpful." 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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