The Windsor Essex Chamber of Commerce on the Verge of History
Our local business advocacy body prepares to celebrate a century and a half of boosting, connecting, and educating area enterprises.
One hundred well-dressed men stand with their backs to Detroit, looking out at Windsor and into the future.
Ryan Donally, the newly minted president and CEO of the Windsor Essex Chamber of Commerce (WECC), is looking at a photo. Several historical images are laid out on a boardroom table in front of him, the Chamber’s archives open ahead of its landmark 150th anniversary. This image, the one that stood out to him, is a staged shot celebrating a riverfront gathering of influential businesspeople on the grounds of what is now the Canadian Club Brand Centre.
“That was the mode in which commerce was done at that time,” observes Donally as he considers the dozens of black-and-white besuited men. “Face-to-face community building and business-to-business sales. Commerce has changed since then, and we’re in the midst of a seismic shift in how business is done, but I think the Chamber of Commerce’s messaging has always been consistent: Whenever you’re doing business, if you shop locally and look within your business network first—if you do business with your neighbour down the street and buy the loaf of bread from the corner store in your neighbourhood—you’re going to have a stronger business community.”
One of the three oldest chambers of commerce in Canada, the WECC has represented businesses in the municipalities that now comprise Windsor and Essex County since a quarter-century before the end of the reign of Queen Victoria. Established in 1876, the Chamber has survived both World Wars, the Great Depression, a global pandemic, 9/11, and any number of periods of acute economic challenges. (More on that topic shortly.)
Over the years, the Chamber has counted among its numbers past, present, and future captains of industry, mayors, federal government ministers, and senators, and those men and (eventually) women have played a meaningful hand—to give just a few examples—in delivering innovations in government relations, shaping North American auto strategy, advocating for single-game sports betting, and mediating the 2022 Ambassador Bridge blockade. Essentially, in building, maintaining, and protecting Windsor-Essex.
The names atop the WECC’s historical org charts are literally etched into the material reality of the city. “It’s fascinating looking back at a list of previous Chamber of Commerce chairs,” Donally confirms, identifying one or two on the photo in front of him. “Some of the names are synonymous with what Windsor is and was. 1910: Honourable W.C. Kennedy; 1923: Hiram H. Walker; 1932: D.M. Eagle; 1972: John H. McGivney; 1977: Gerald Freed; Charles J. Clark. These names are previous leaders of industry who have left an indelible mark on the entire community.”
Today, the WECC numbers 750 members, representing more than 40,000 employees in our community. It is currently chaired by Tal Czudner, CEO of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Corporation.
The Drive sat down with Donally—who you may recognize as a former Windsor Spitfires captain—Director of Operations Matthew Dumouchel, and Events Specialist Louanne Sylvestre, to learn more about where the Chamber has been and where it’s going. The WECC has just refreshed its visual brand identity, and planning for next year’s sesquicentennial celebrations is underway apace, leading up to March 2026. Over the next 12 months, the WECC’s seven full-time employees and star-studded board of directors plan to host a series of spectacular events, including but by no means limited to: a showstopping floral display in Jackson Park, which takes bloom in May; a small business summit; and many other special celebratory moments. The campaign launches on April 24 at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting, held this year at Beach Grove Golf and Country Club.
“We’re finding opportunities to create partnerships across the wider community to celebrate the success of our region,” explains Dumouchel. “We intend for our outreach over the next 12 months to create long-lasting impacts.”
If you own a radio, television, or Wi-Fi router, you already know these celebrations are unfolding against a national backdrop of economic anxiety. We live in uncertain times.
To some extent, the WECC’s work has always foregrounded Windsor’s proximity to the United States, never denying the degree to which the relationship between Windsor-Essex and Southeastern Michigan touches all elements of both societies. It’s hard to ignore the centrality of Detroit in the Chamber’s archival marketing materials, and since 2007, the WECC’s International Business Builder program has offered members access Detroit Regional Chamber membership for a discounted rate.
“A strong American economy is good for our region and good for our long-term growth,” says Donally, speaking to the current geopolitical moment. “Decisions made now can’t be shortsighted, because—good, bad, or indifferent—Windsor-Essex can’t change its address. The relationships we have today, both within Canada and with our neighbours to the south, are going to be very important in the long run. Any type of knee-jerk reaction that would affect the relationship of our two countries disproportionately affects Windsor-Essex, so we must be cautious about what’s happening today while also keeping an eye on 10, 20, 50 years down the road.”
That said, Donally acknowledges the Chamber’s important role in mediating the current uncertainty. “We will make sure we are collecting the voices of the business community and our membership, coalescing that feedback into actionable items, and sharing that information through either policy resolutions or asks to various levels of government,” he promises. “At the same time, we are taking information from government and boiling it down to an understandable level for our business community.”
This type of advocacy and communications outreach is one of three foundational pillars of the WECC’s work. “The chamber facilitates interactions between all three levels of government and the business community,” outlines Donally. “We are a non-political organization, but we do ensure the voices of business are amplified to the political community.”
What else does the WECC actually do? According to Donally, at the base level, the Chamber promises its members access to significant cost savings through various group partnerships and reciprocal relationships. Next, the Chamber facilitates diverse business-to-business networking opportunities, including a robust series of formal in-person events.
You may be surprised to learn the WECC is a private not-for-profit corporation not funded by any level of government. As Donally explains, this identity affords the Chamber a degree of flexibility public enterprises often struggle to achieve. “Because our funding model is membership and sponsorship based,” he explains, “we can model our own behaviour after the voice of our members in the business community. We’re always looking to diversify or grow based on what we’re hearing from the community; we’re changing what we need to do to make our Chamber that much stronger.”
What we now know as the WECC was originally founded as the Windsor Board of Trade by a group of 34 local businessmen—and they were all men. Fortunately, gender relations within the chamber have improved somewhat since then. The WECC appointed its first female chief executive 40 years ago, and its first female chair five years later. Since 1996, the Chamber has partnered with ATHENA International to recognize accomplished local leaders who actively help women achieve professional excellence. (The Drive covered this initiative in depth in our last issue.)
The ATHENA Leadership Award is doled out each year at annual Business Excellence Awards (BEAs), which have become the WECC’s signature celebration. The largest event in the Chamber’s portfolio, the gala attracts over 600 guests annually and is, in Sylvestre’s words, “the premier business event of the year” in our region. This spring’s edition is the 37th.
“The BEAs are a great opportunity for us to celebrate outstanding businesses and business leaders in the community who deserve to be celebrated more regularly,” says Donally, who also notes the WECC stages the longest-running corporate golf tournament in the region. “Generally, Windsor-Essex doesn’t do a great job of telling the world how great we are, and this is one of the nights of the year when we do. The Chamber relishes the opportunity to celebrate those who have given so much to make our community a better place to live, play, work, and invest.”
The WECC is open to virtually anybody who might like to join. “We have members who are sole proprietors up to the largest employers in our community, and literally anything in between,” says Donally. “We can connect down to the single sole proprietor all the way up to the larger business that employs a couple thousand people in the community. Representing both voices and empowering them to be heard at different times and at different levels is extremely important.”
“We currently offer five tiers of membership, each delivering our members different value propositions,” says Dumouchel. “The tiers are designed around the value a company chooses to invest in its membership, rather than its size.”
In Donally’s words, WECC membership is analogous to joining a fitness club. “A really effective gym membership does require putting a bit of work in,” he explains, “but when you invest that effort, the results come back twofold.”
Ultimately, even as dark clouds begin to gather over our border-city economy, the mood inside the WECC, on the verge of its momentous anniversary, does seem to carry the optimism of a fitness class in early January. “There is an excitement around our office, and I hope there’s a corresponding excitement in the community,” Donally stresses. “The Chamber of Commerce is going to continue to be a leader in our community, so it’s vital our value proposition is well understood and evolves such that the Chamber continues to be relevant for another 150 years.”
That calls for serious work, but if Donally is intimidated by it, his face doesn’t show it.
Sylvestre smiles, too: “We do have fun around here.”
For more information, including exclusive member benefits and resources, see www.windsoressexchamber.org.
