Brandie Greer Chosen New Chamber of Commerce CEO
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
The Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce has a new leader.
Brandie Greer, who currently serves as Vice President of Operations at Chamber has been chosen as the new Chief Executive Officer of the organization after an extensive search.
Greer said she wants to continue to dig deeper and help the Chamber assist local businesses.
“We’re wanting to get as involved as we can in the community and being as supportive as we can for all our businesses,” said Greer. “We’re looking forward to more business roundtables and other events to listen to our businesses and see what they need.”
“We just want to serve our businesses the way we should,” said Greer.
“After working alongside Brandie the past six months, I am sure she is going to lead our chamber to significant heights in the future,” said former Interim Chamber CEO Carol Burdette.
Burdette will continue for now on special projects at the Chamber and lending a hand during the transition.
An Anderson County native, Greer has served at the Chamber since 2021, first as director of programs and events and then vice president of operations.
Before joining the Chamber, Greer was introduced to the Chamber as an Ambassador while serving as the Director of Marketing and Government Affairs at SENIOR Solutions. She is a graduate of Leadership Anderson Class 38 (2023) and currently serves on several boards and committees that support our area’s economic and educational development, including: Anderson County Economic Development Board, Anderson University College of Engineering Partnership Board, Anderson School District 5 CTE Advisory Board, Vocational Rehabilitation Advisory Committee, and the Anderson County Woman’s Club.
She is a past board member of First Light and an active member of Mt. Bethel Baptist Church in Belton.
In 2024, Brandie earned the IOM (Institute for Organization Management) designation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This four-year program is a cornerstone of professional development in the Chamber industry, providing leaders with essential skills in nonprofit management, advocacy, and community impact.
Greer and her husband, Tim, have been married for 28 years and have two children, and a granddaughter.
Few institutions boast a lineage in Anderson as the venerable Chamber of Commerce, an entity first conceived in 1903. Its foundational roster reads like a roll call of the region's enduring families, names like F. G. Brown, R. S. Ligon, and J.J. Fretwell echoing through generations, their descendants often still woven into the very fabric of local endeavor.
In its robust infancy, the Chamber was a multifaceted engine, exerting influence not merely in the economic sphere but also in the political. One could imagine its members, with a certain earnest civic pride, endorsing candidates for public office or perhaps attending a six-week course on the intricacies of launching a local enterprise—a far cry from today's digital tutorials. It was, by many accounts, a potent force, frequently spearheading the very economic development that shaped the county.
Indeed, the Chamber's perceived criticality was perhaps best encapsulated by Wilton Hall, a figure of no small repute—a publishing titan, no less, and a former U.S. Senator. In 1939, Hall, with a rhetorical flourish befitting his station, delivered an address that might well serve as a founding creed: "We are not members of the Chamber of Commerce because Anderson owes us something," he declared, dispensing with any notion of civic entitlement. "Anderson owes us nothing. Has it not given us fire and police protection, good schools and churches, nicely paved streets and sidewalks, a public library, and a neighborly, friendly community in which we earn our livelihood? It has done this. And in return for what Anderson has done for us we become the debtor - we owe this city something, and your presence in the Chamber of Commerce reflects a sincere, earnest desire to discharge your obligations to this splendid community.” One might almost hear the faint rustle of crisp bank notes changing hands, albeit with the most honorable of intentions.
Over the ensuing decades, the Chamber, ever adaptable, expanded its purview to embrace the entirety of Anderson County, adjusting its practices along the way. Its stated mission—to foster the success of local businesses—has, ostensibly, remained steadfast. Yet, a subtle, perhaps inevitable, erosion has occurred in its traditional role as a prime mover of economic development over the last forty years. A curious shift has also been observed in its governance: fully half of its board members now hail from beyond the county's geographical confines, a demographic realignment that suggests a departure from the deep, generational roots that once characterized Anderson's local leadership. The Chamber, in essence, finds itself in an ongoing negotiation with its own legacy, navigating the currents of a changing local landscape.
