Cedar Rapids, IA – On Thursday, November 5, 2009, from 11:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel, ballroom the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its 91st Annual Meeting.  This event will reflect and celebrate accomplishments from the 2009 fiscal year. “The theme for the annual event and report, Seeds of Growth, signifies not only the immense growth the Chamber continues to experience, but the aptitude, resilience and evolution of our businesses and community,” states Shannon Meyer, president and CEO.
 
The event, which is open to the media and members and their guests, will include keynote speaker Neil Hare, president of iSupport Digital - a leading online development and strategy company for associations and small businesses.    Previously, Hare served as vice president of Corporate Communications at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Prior to taking over the communications position, Hare served as vice president of the National Chamber Foundation, the Chamber’s public policy think tank.  Hare, an attorney, also worked in a Washington, D.C., law firm, specializing in international law and litigation, and as a legal editor for the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), covering America’s securities markets. He appeared regularly on CNBC, MSNBC, and FoxNews as an expert on day trading and wrote columns on securities regulations for financial publications. Hare is also the author of a novel, An Animal Cries, published in 1998 by Castle Pacific Publishing.