Chamber actions guided by strategic plan, president says

Matt Morrow: Chamber’s target is too large for any one entity to accomplish alone.

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has been in the news lately, but in a Feb. 11 media roundtable, President and CEO Matt Morrow said the work of the chamber is guided by a plan.

“Everything that we’re doing – even the stuff that’s been in the news recently – is an outflow of our member-driven strategic plan and our 2026 action plan,” he said.

Morrow identified the chamber’s target to grow gross domestic product for its 10-county Ozarks region by 75% in the period of 2025-30.

In 2020, the region’s GDP was $26.5 billion, Morrow said, and the goal is to be over $46 billion before the start of 2030.

“That’s a big goal,” he said. “It’s intentionally too large for any person or organization to accomplish alone.”

The strategic plan, posted on the chamber’s website, includes four priorities:

• Lead regional economic development. Market Springfield and the 10-county Ozarks region as a premier destination for business and talent by utilizing data-driven industry standards and best practices.

• Grow the workforce-ready population. Develop, retain and attract talent to meet employer demand while supporting solutions that address barriers to workforce participation.

• Strengthen and support business. Advocate as the voice of business for public policy and a regulatory environment that encourages economic growth.

• Operate with excellence. Engage members, volunteers and stakeholders with consistent, high-quality experiences and services as the front door of the community.

Achieving the chamber’s overarching GDP growth target will require growing the workforce-ready population, Morrow said.

“In order to achieve that, we’re going to need to add, net, about 15,000 prime working-age people to the workforce in the region over that same period of time,” he said.

All of those workers will need a place to live, he said.

“The reason that we’ve prioritized those goals by the end of the decade is that that is the single and only way that we see communities prosper and people who live in those communities thrive,” he said.

He said the chamber wants to see expanded resources for public schools, libraries, parks, the arts and all of the other things tax dollars provide.

“Then of course we also want to see new job opportunities for people who live here today and people who would hopefully come here in the future – higher wages, better opportunities to really earn a good living,” he said.

Providing more housing opportunities is the key to keeping the cost of living under control while wages grow, Morrow added.

“We want to see wages grow and cost of living grow – that’s our goal,” he said.

The category of housing expenses is one measure of cost of living where the region typically runs 20% or more below the national average in terms of cost, he said, while the other categories, like groceries, medical care, and utilities, are close to the average.

Having a strong housing supply is key to maintaining a low cost of living, he said.

“The advocacy that we do to try to promote a healthy business climate is aimed at driving GDP for the region and driving those workforce-ready populations for better jobs, better wages and all those things that are necessary for our broadened tax base,” he said. “That’s kind of the why for us on this.”

Morrow addressed the chamber’s involvement in recent state legislation, House Bill 2847, that aims to eliminate city residents’ right to referendum on zoning decisions. He linked the chamber’s opposition to past court decisions that he said show the city’s charter language on zoning referendums to be unlawful.

“Naturally, there are a lot of disagreements in our community around this,” he said. “Some are interested in trying to create bogeymen or accuse people of different things or whatever else. That’s interesting food fight stuff, but I think there’s something a lot more important.”

2025 accomplishments
The chamber’s 2025 annual report shows some of the progress made toward the chamber’s strategic goals in that year.

Under the goal of leading regional development and an objective to promote the region for business investment and talent competitiveness, the chamber managed more than 40 active economic development projects and announced 280 new jobs and $96 million in new capital investment in the region.

The key milestone cited under the category was restructuring and relaunching the Ozarks Regional Economic Partnership to drive regional prosperity.

The goal of growing the workforce-ready population had the objective of attracting, retaining and developing talent while addressing workforce barriers.

The key milestone listed was securing $2.5 million state funding to launch a Child Care Community Exchange pilot in conversation with 70 local businesses. Community Partnership of the Ozarks was awarded funding to expand child care capacity with a pilot scheduled to launch this year.

The goal of strengthening and supporting business had the objective of advocating for a business-friendly environment and amplifying the voice of business.

The key milestone cited was hosting the inaugural Ozarks Regional Advocacy Day at the Missouri Capitol and expanding a regional alignment with 50-plus organizations signing on to shared priorities for 2026, nearly doubling the number of public and private organizations from the first year of the strategic plan.

Operating with excellence had the objective of strengthening internal operations and communications and member engagement.

The key milestone reported for the goal was the successful launch of a grant-funded pilot program to offer 40 startups in Missouri State University’s Efactory incubator a no-cost chamber membership for their first year.

2026 goals
The chamber website also spells out goals for the present year, the second in the chamber’s five-year strategic plan.

The goals under each of the chamber priorities are as follows:

• Business attraction: Implement a proactive marketing and media campaign to attract primary employers to the region, utilizing paid digital advertising, Missouri Partnership events and direct outreach to site selection consultants and companies.

• Talent attraction: Gather employee input and apply best practices to guide updates to marketing assets, including refreshing content and visuals on LiveInSpringfieldMO.com, to elevate the region’s visibility and attract talent.

• Development process certainty: Advance policies that provide certainty in development decisions to support business growth.

• Operational performance: Document and strengthen internal systems for effectiveness and to pursue five-star accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.