The Greater Arlington Chamber’s 80th Annual Dinner, “The Chamber Vault,” presented by Medical City Arlington, transported attendees throughout eight decades of championing economic and community prosperity.

As part of the Annual Dinner, the Chamber inducted Mortiz Interests Ltd. into the Chamber’s Business Hall of Fame, interviewed outgoing Board Chair Kelly Curnutt and incoming Board Chair Joni Wilson, and recognized the Ambassador of the Year, Roderick Floyd and the B.J. Hall Recruiter of the Year, Sandra Green.

Below are excerpts of the evening’s script:

Michael Jacobson, President & CEO of the Chamber: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We want to welcome you this evening. Your presence is most gratifying. As a matter of fact, your number exceed our hopes by a wide margin. We’re deeply appreciative – just as we have been appreciative of your interest in and support of your Chamber of Commerce this past year. 

We disclaim credit for any achievements which might have been made this past year. We realized that credit belongs to you – to the many of you who actively worked long and hard in the interest of the chamber, and as a result, Arlington. And also, to the many of you who perhaps were not quite so active in your effort, but who are, in reality, Arlington. It is your “gospel” we preach. And believe me, it’s not a hard “gospel” to sell.

While I would like to take credit for the words I just spoke, they are not mine. Tom Vandergriff spoke those words 75 years ago as he opened his address to the 1950 Chamber Annual Banquet. Those words still ring true today. Our achievements and successes as a Chamber belong to you, the community of Arlington.

Some of you are here tonight because Arlington has been your whole life. Some of you are kickstarting your Arlington journey right now. No matter the circumstances that brought you here to this ballroom, which, mind you, was a parking lot less than 10 years ago, we’re so grateful you’re here. We’re excited to celebrate 80 years of business and community impact with you. 

In a world where it seems we can always find something to complain about, let’s make this an evening to celebrate. Celebrate all Arlington and the Chamber have become, celebrate the wins, celebrate the times we survived, even when the odds weren’t in our favor. Let’s celebrate the future ahead of us, and most of all, celebrate everyone, all of you, who helped us to be the Chamber we are today. 

The Chamber Vault

The 80-year transformation of our community is truly amazing. We are standing on the shoulders of giants who saw Arlington’s potential, took educated risks and created the Can-Do spirit we’re known for today.

Time and time again, the people of Arlington have proven that if you give us a chance, if you give us the opportunity to step up to the plate, we’ll hit it out of the park every time.

As President and CEO of this great Chamber, it gives me an enormous sense of pride to know we were there for every milestone. We had a seat at the table when visions, decisions and skylines were defined.

Past Chair Legacy

So many of you here tonight have played a role in our tremendous history. We’ve had 77 chairs in 80 years.

We’ve had some truly amazing leaders serve as Chair of this Chamber; some are no longer with us. Leaders like Mayor Tom Vandergriff, Paul Yarbrough, Dr. Judith Carrier, and so many others, they each had their own vision for Arlington – to be a Big League City, a logistical hub where anyone could successfully do business, or a place where education was attainable and welcome to all – they each knew that the only way to deliver a vision was to work together.

And that’s still true today. Our mission is “Together, We Champion Economic and Community Prosperity.” If I say “together” 1,000 times tonight, it’s still not enough. Together is how this Chamber and this City have accomplished so much with the momentum continuing. 

The Arlington Dream

Over the past 80 years, we’ve been fortunate to have leaders like Kelly Curnutt, 2024-25 Chamber Board Chair, who actively chose every day to build on the Arlington dream. Six Flags and Major League Baseball, set the stage for the entertainment district we stand in today, which could not have been fathomed in 1945. But what did exist in 1945 is the vision and belief that we can always do more, be more and it is this higher purpose that has earned Arlington a global reputation for its “Can Do” spirit.

Taking a step back and looking at our tremendous 80-year timeline as a City, we can see that Mayor Vandergriff’s “Dream the Big Dream” is part of our culture. We don’t shy away from the big stuff. We embrace it. We can do big things together.

The Chamber has rallied people to a common cause going back to our founding. In the 1940s the Chamber led efforts to ship container loads of goods to Koeningshofen, Germany after a student’s pen pal relationship kindled our humanitarian heart. Now we have a blossoming Sister Cities program.

He then dreamed we would have a Major League Baseball team. He rallied the business community behind him. We made it happen. The Chamber then stepped up to add required seats to Turnpike Stadium to officially qualify for the major leagues. We made it happen again. The Chamber was side-by-side with Mayor Green as he led the effort for the new Ballpark in the 1990s. We made it happen a third, a fourth, a fifth time with now AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field and the Arlington Economic Development Corporation.

This Chamber built two different buildings in Downtown Arlington. One in the 60s and our current home which opened in September 2000. We created a space to convene, to work together. 

But if time has taught us anything, it’s that we as individuals are not forever; our time will come. Buildings age. Infrastructure is replaced. But our spirit, our will, as a people, it’s timeless. 

It was together. Together, we accomplished these big dreams. We turned them into visions we could share, and then we executed. We believed. We made things happen. 

Together, We Succeed.

We are capable of great things. Just as the leaders of the 1940s and 50s set up Arlington’s economic momentum, we owe it to the leaders 80 years in the future, to do the same. We need to continue adding fuel to our economic engines. We need to support each other and our community. 

Our Chamber’s greatest asset is the power to bring people together. To check egos at the door. Tamper attitudes that enable divisiveness to creep in. We have been, and always will be, stronger when we work together.