On November 1, past Rotary of Atlanta West End President Mark Newman introduced Ms. Hala Moddelmog, his neighbor and President and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. The MAC serves the 29 county area, has just sponsored its 160th annual meeting, supports hundreds of members, and raises huge amounts of money to champion business development of an enormously diverse nature, including aggressive work to ensure women and minorities gain a competitive advantage. The MAC prioritizes legislative interests including work to ensure the Hartsville-Jackson Airport remains under the control of the City of Atlanta, and ensuring so-called religious liberty bills, which are designed to undermine the rights of LBGTQ citizens, are prevented from becoming law in Georgia. MAC works to position metro Atlanta as a top-tier global region by focusing on three key areas: economic development, public policy, and promotion. Hala distills the MAC mission as: to Grow the membership so more companies benefit, to Advocate so that metro Atlanta companies and citizens benefit, and to Promote so that people believe in and support Atlanta to advance its remarkable story. She’s been moving forward with Atlanta as a technology hub for the nation, through ChooseATL, which draws more people to Atlanta where companies have access to a large, diverse talent pool. She’s developed a special fund to ensure more women-led and people of color-led firms engage in business development opportunities. But the Atlanta Tech Hub is not like Silicon Valley and does not want to be, because Silicon Valley has few women and minorities participating. Hala depends on and supports Georgia Tech, which leads the nation in black entrepreneur graduates, and Georgia State, which leads the nation in black graduates. The MAC Data Science Center has raised $1.8M to connect talent from Spelman, Clark-Atlanta and Morehouse with employers. The MAC recognizes and rewards sustainability efforts like those of Delta Airlines, which has recycled 3 million pounds of aluminum, recycled millions of bottles and cups; and even hosts honey beehives at its headquarters.