March 14, 2025
The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce is excited to introduce its newest Business Champions, a group of local leaders who are taking the first step as founding members of a vital initiative aimed at enhancing Fort Worth’s business environment. These individuals will play a key role in gathering valuable insights from local businesses, helping shape the Chamber’s priorities and ensuring the region’s continued economic growth.
On Thursday, March 6th, the Chamber held its first in-person training session for the Business Champions program at the Chamber offices. Co-chaired by Alyssa Al Sabi of Happy State Bank and Hudson Bell of CrossCountry Mortgage, the session also featured a presentation by Ben Robertson of Byrne Construction. The Business Champions program is designed to empower volunteers to engage with local businesses, gather critical data, and support the Chamber’s Business Advocacy Committee in shaping policies that benefit the Fort Worth business community. The goal is to collect 600-700 conversations by the end of 2025.
The program’s purpose is to create a network of volunteers that will engage directly with businesses to collect data on business retention, expansion, and climate. These insights will inform the Chamber’s strategic priorities, support local business needs, and provide valuable information to guide community investment and policy decisions.
The following local leaders have joined the inaugural class of Business Champions:
- Co-Chair: Alyssa Al Sabi of Happy State Bank
- Co-Chair: Hudson Bell of CrossCountry Mortgage
- Founding Member: Alexander Chandler of Compass
- Founding Member: Ben Robertson of Byrne Construction
- Founding Member: Pepper Sims of Pepper-L Specialties
- Anna Mpinga of New Yor Life Insurance
- Ben Johnson of Frost
- Ben Perryman of Higginbotham
- Brian Bradford of NGC Americas
- Carrie Denton of Hotel Drover
- Cheryl West of Springhill Suites by Marriott – Stockyards
- Devang Vashi of Farmers Insurance
- Donna Thomas of Hotel Drover
- Eronia King of Tarleton State University
- Joseph Davidson of Emersons Commercial Real Estate
- Kenn George of Canyon Wood Partners
- Shanna Emery of Center for Transforming Lives
- Shannon Watt of Frost
Shannon Watt, Executive Vice-President of Frost Bank and Business Champion, shared “I am excited to help the Fort Worth Chamber and play a role in the Business Champions Program. Business Champions will be able to help the Chamber engage more business owners in Fort Worth and leverage new and existing relationships. The training was invaluable to better understand just how important it is for the Chamber to track specific business climate information from companies of all sizes so the Chamber can be a better advocate for our community.”
These members will help ensure that Fort Worth businesses have the support, resources, and opportunities they need to succeed.
Interested in becoming a Business Champion? Sign up today.