Scott Powers
Sharon Smoley of the Orlando Economic Partnership has been elected to the national board of directors for the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.
Smoley, vice president of advocacy and public policy for the Orlando Economic Partnership, which includes the Orlando regional chamber of commerce, becomes one of 50 representatives of chambers throughout the country on the ACCE board, including many of the world’s largest and most influential regional chambers of commerce.
ACCE is a Virginia-based association of more than 9,000 professionals who work for and with more than 1,600 chambers of commerce.
“We are pleased to welcome Sharon Smoley to the ACCE Board of Directors,” ACCE President Sheree Anne Kelly, said in a news release. “She joins the organization’s volunteer leadership at a time when the role of chambers of commerce has never been more critical.”
In her role at the Orlando Economic Partnership, Smoley is responsible for creating policy on behalf of Central Florida’s business community within the seven-county region, while also leading advocacy efforts and strategy on a local, state and federal level. The Orlando Economic Partnership represents chambers of commerce in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Polk, Volusia, and Brevard counties.
“I’m honored to have been elected to the ACCE Board of Directors,” Smoley said in the release. “As Orlando’s economy, and the economies of cities and counties across the nation, recover from the impacts of the pandemic, how regional chambers engage and collaborate with local public and elected officials on behalf of the business community is more important than ever. It will take collective action by stakeholders across both the public and private sectors to ensure recovery benefits all, and not just a few, and I look forward to sharing my expertise to help guide broad-based progress.”
Prior to coming to the Orlando Economic Partnership, Smoley served as Florida director of government affairs for Charter Communications. Before that she worked with the government relations team at Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts.
She also has been chair of the board of directors for the Kissimmee/Osceola Chamber of Commerce and a board member of BusinessForce, and of the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association’s Political Action Committee.
