THE FORT Podcast: Brandom Gengelbach

In Episode 18, Chris sits down with Brandom Gengelbach, Executive Vice President of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. They discuss what chambers do, how they help businesses, what he sees for the city of Fort Worth as well as cities around the country.

Listen on:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts

2:06 – What do you do at the Chamber? 
2:35 – What are businesses asking for today that has changed? 
5:35 – How do cities differentiate in terms of what they can offer? 
7:55 – What do people love about Fort Worth when visiting for the first time?
10:15 – What is the process of a company making a deal with the city? 
13:27 – What did the Amazon HQ 2 deal teach chambers around the country?
16:11- Did Amazon help you learn more about the city and did Amazon bring more attention to these cities? 
21:51 – Why do suburban cities have the ability to make “better” offers than larger cities?
29:03 – Is city growth dependent on bringing in large established businesses or growing internally existing businesses in the city?  
32:15- For small businesses, when is it the right time to go to the city chamber for the next move?
34:28 – What is Fort worth doing to be progressive in furthering economic development?

MORE ABOUT BRANDOM

Brandom Gengelbach joined the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce as the Executive Vice President of Economic Development in November 2016. He oversees business attraction and retention efforts, talent development, small business initiatives and advocacy, the four pillars of the Chamber’s strategic plan known as Fortify.
Brandom is an economic development and chamber of commerce professional with 18 years of diverse foreign and domestic experience in Nashville, Indianapolis and Brisbane, Australia. In his previous positions, he marketed city assets, providing key information and determining client needs to solicit company relocations or expansions into a city.
He grew up in Houston and the Plano-Addison area and holds a B.A. from Samford University and an MBA from the University of Southampton, near London, where he was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.
An avid cyclist and Boston Marathon qualifier, Brandom and his wife Alison have two sons, Tyler and William.