PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria Chamber of Commerce President Jeff Griffin has announced his resignation.
Griffin announced Monday he has accepted the position of President and CEO of the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Chamber of Commerce.
Griffin became the Peoria Chamber’s president in February of 2014, and said he feels the Chamber has seen many accomplishments under his watch.
“The way we’ve grown the Chamber of Commerce and have partnered it more with the CEO Council membership and getting the largest investors and employers in the community tied in with all the businesses [are among the accomplishments],” he said.
“Getting the training workforce piece with the education resources with ICC and Peoria Public Schools, also, but mostly getting the Chamber of Commerce membership strong and giving horsepower to the CEO Council to work on some important projects.”
He added it was too early to toss around possible replacements, but whoever follows him, he predicted, will face many of the challenges he has faced.
“It’s an ongoing challenge here in Illinois, advocating for pro-business policies.
“Peoria and the people of Peoria are fantastic. The biggest challenge is the burden of Springfield, with the taxes and those sorts of thing.”
Still, he expressed reasons to feel optimism for the city’s future.
“The natural resources we have, the research hubs that will be growing, the recent Big Table event that really demonstrated the solidarity of our community,” he said.
“The talent is definitely here.”
The Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee is scheduled to meet to come up with an interim plan as it begins its nationwide search for Griffin’s replacement.
Griffin’s resignation was set to be effective January 15th.
