photograph by houston cofield
From her porch growing up in the Orange Mound neighborhood, Beverly Robertson would listen to the delighted whoops of families and kids. The Zippin Pippin roller coaster was close by at Libertyland, the cars coming into view at the apex of the ride and showcasing a perfectly fun family afternoon. But back then, the Pippin was a symbol of Memphis’ division, an attraction that did not offer entertainment to all of its citizens. African Americans were banned from the park every day of the week except for Tuesdays. Robertson vowed that she would do her part to create a Memphis where every child could ride the Pippin. A Memphis where every family had the chance to prosper.
The Pippin may be gone — sold and disassembled long ago and relocated out of state — but Robertson has long been a Memphis institution in her own way: a co-founder of TRUST Marketing, and longtime former head of the National Civil Rights Museum before taking up her position as the first Black president and CEO at the Greater Memphis Chamber. Her leadership has seen the Chamber, in 2021, mark its best year ever for economic development and, thanks to extensive marketing efforts, also its best financial year ever.
The Memphis area has pulled some significant economic levers with Robertson at the helm, chief among them the attraction of Ford’s $5.6 billion Blue Oval City complex, expected to bring 5,800 new jobs to the area. But after more than four years, she feels that the time is right to step down from her role, turning over leadership of the organization to its chief economic development officer, Ted Townsend. “It’s a little bittersweet, for sure,” says Robertson. “I feel that the reasons I assumed the helm here have almost been met. I think too often, we don’t know when to say when, and it means that sometimes we stay beyond our level of effectiveness. So it felt like the right time to pass the baton.
photograph by houston cofield
“My goal coming in was to help navigate this team through the trauma that they were experiencing as a direct result of the untimely death of Phil Trenary. In addition to that, we set about understanding foundational issues that could also propel Memphis forward and build more of a strategic focus to make sure that we get those things done, and build a team that I know would take this Chamber to a whole other level, engage the stakeholders in ways that we’ve never engaged them before, and make sure that they feel the same level of commitment and activation and enthusiasm that we feel as a staff.”
Robertson sat down individually with each Chamber employee and asked them a question: What is the work of the Chamber? Out of the 36 employees at the time, Robertson recalls hearing many different answers. “But that allowed me to begin homing in on what it was that the Chamber needed to be doing.”
Local tragedies have bookended Robertson’s tenure. The killing of Eliza Fletcher and a violent shooting spree across town, all perpetrated within a week of each other in September, left the city reeling. The Chamber swiftly initiated conversations with local leaders about how best to move forward.
“The Chamber remains committed to working with our business leaders, elected officials, and residents to thoughtfully identify real solutions that lead to real results,” Robertson said in the aftermath. “I have already reached out to the mayor and police chief of Memphis to ensure the business community will be at the table as we move forward. We all must play a role in driving positive change in our community, and this journey is just starting. Working together, we will make a difference.”
In September 2018, former Chamber president and CEO Phil Trenary was fatally shot while walking home from a fundraiser. The tragedy took place Downtown, a recent recipient of an economic upturn that has revitalized the area, but not far from impoverished sections of Memphis, ones that were often overlooked and passed over for any chance at economic redevelopment.
What Robertson found coming into these circumstances was that for all the progress, many issues facing Memphis then are still present now. “The team was very traumatized by the sudden loss of their boss,” she says. “They were kind of able to manage through it at first, but there was a lot of emotional baggage that I think many of them had as a direct result of having worked so closely with Trenary, who was a great guy and who did some great things here at the Chamber. So the first thing that I thought about is that it would be important for me as a newcomer to talk with every member.”
Robertson sat down individually with each Chamber employee and asked them a question: What is the work of the Chamber? Out of the 36 employees at the time, Robertson recalls hearing many different answers. “But that allowed me to begin homing in on what it was that the Chamber needed to be doing.” That included building on much of Trenary’s legacy by focusing on ways to build a more equitable Memphis: developing talent pipelines, attracting new investment, creating higher wage jobs, and advocating for public policy.
As Robertson refined her mission as a leader, she made “Prosperity for All” the chief slogan of the Chamber, and took the same granular approach that she did when introducing herself to her team. Robertson started with a new “Taking it to the Streets” program, where Chamber representatives would visit various Memphis neighborhoods and work closely with citizens and community leaders to explain the work the Chamber was doing, and convey how those plans would help to improve Memphis. Robertson approached areas like Orange Mound, Frayser, and Hickory Hill. “We talked about the work of the Chamber,” she says, “how new investments mean creating a much more substantial financial foundation for the city, and why incentives are important. It’s the entry barrier to play in the economic development space. I talked about how it gives businesses in these neighborhoods a chance to get up and running.”
A second unexpected crisis of her time at the helm came in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic, which dampened economics everywhere and threatened to derail the work of the Chamber. To counteract the situation, she and her team needed to double down on their strategy, continue to communicate with businesses and neighborhoods, talk with potential outside investors, and persist with aggressive fundraising efforts. Most importantly, it gave some extra time to formulate a long-term economic plan.
Robertson and the Chamber unveiled the Prosper Memphis 2030 plan this summer, a strategy designed to foster continued development in Memphis for the next decade, and long after she has stepped down. “I’ve been laser-focused on driving transformational change here and pursuing prosperity for all,” she says, “and we had to think about how we could tangibly do that.” The Prosper Memphis 2030 plan places major emphasis on workforce development, with a goal of creating 50,000 new high-quality jobs, and half of those going to minorities. The plan also calls for diversifying business in Memphis by adding 700 new advanced manufacturing firms in the area, and finally, getting Memphis to a point where it is creating 20,000 STEM graduates per year.
“There will be three major areas of focus for us: agribusiness and agriculture, medical innovation and device manufacturing, and transportation and distribution,” says Robertson. “These are the businesses that have brought us to the party and helped drive things forward over the years, and these jobs will build on themselves.
“As for the 20,000 students who are STEM graduates, we’re in this fourth industrial revolution, and our young people need to be prepared for using digital processes, artificial intelligence, robots, and 3D printing. That’s the fourth wave that is coming, and we’ve got to get our marketplace ready for that. Of course, we also have to look at things like our transit system and affordable housing. It’s not just about the people who have those, but those systems allow us to be competitive. Some other cities have it, we don’t, and that’s a problem. We’ve established a center that will produce regular reports that allow us to track how we’re progressing on all these fronts so we can stay on track.”
For the immediate future, the Prosper Memphis 2030 plan will take shape in the form of people and workforce development, according to Robertson. It will show people who have lived in poverty all their lives that they, too, have access to opportunity, to new jobs that will allow them to lift themselves up out of poverty.
“It’s about putting folks in a place where they can enjoy some of the wonderful things that are a part of living in America — buying houses, cars, educating their children, securing some of these things they haven’t been able to before,” she says. “That’s the Memphis I want to see. And when we start talking about advanced manufacturing and equipment operations, we need to position one-stop-shop training centers close to these communities, so that we then deal with the areas that are hardest hit economically, and can really begin to educate and train them for jobs that could be legacy jobs for their families.”
“Greater Memphis, the Chamber, and I all owe Beverly a debt of gratitude for the work she’s done to put inclusion and diversity at the heart of the Chamber’s work.” — Ted Townsend.
As she approaches the end of her tenure in December, Robertson says that Memphis’ business community understands that it will succeed in the future if there is a trained workforce, and that it’s up for the challenge. Her final months will be spent working on fundraising campaigns for $10-$15 million to support the workforce development initiatives, since those are not part of the Chamber’s operating budget. But when she finally does step away, with plans to return to TRUST Marketing, the Chamber will continue to move forward with consistency in its programming and messaging, thanks to the foundation she laid, and the efforts of her successor.
“Beverly Robertson is an incredibly tough act to follow, but if there’s anyone who can carry forward her work to make Memphis more prosperous for all, it’s Ted Townsend,” says Doug Browne, chairman of the Chamber’s board and president of Peabody Hotels & Resorts. “Ted has both the passion and the economic development experience to make Memphis one of the fastest-growing and prosperous cities in the nation. The board is 100 percent behind his vision to make our region an economic powerhouse.”
photograph by houston cofield
Robertson fought hard to bring Townsend to the Chamber team, first as a part-time advisor in a dual role, and then full-time in October 2021. She credits him with being one of the key players in bringing Blue Oval City to Memphis, and touts his leadership and business experience at the highest level.
“Greater Memphis, the Chamber, and I all owe Beverly a debt of gratitude for the work she’s done to put inclusion and diversity at the heart of the Chamber’s work,” Townsend said after the Chamber announced its leadership transition. “In a majority-minority city, the only sustainable growth is inclusive growth, which is why we included bold minority inclusion goals in our recently announced Prosper Memphis 2030 plan to add 50,000 new, quality jobs.”
“Ted was one of the first names that popped into my head when we were looking for a new development officer,” she says. “He is a great person to step in and carry forth the vision. He’s been a part of the conception of it. He has worked at the state level in economic development. He’s worked in innovation and research with [former U of M president] David Rudd, and just brings a great deal of experience to the table.”
And beyond Townsend, Robertson’s focus and appreciation is unwavering for the whole Chamber team. “I remember focusing on the team when I arrived, and as I leave, I don’t know how we are so blessed to have been able to attract some of the most talented people. You could not ask for a better team moving forward.”
“I’ve been working consistently for a long time, and it’s time for me to be able to breathe a little bit. I’ll hopefully have the flexibility to travel and do some other fun things. But I still want to stay engaged. I still want to help drive transformational change. That’s really critical for Memphis as we grow and advance into our future.” — Beverly Robertson
And as the curtain falls on her time as president and CEO, it can’t be overstated how difficult the circumstances were when she took over, and the various unprecedented hurdles that came up during her time in charge. Her impact at the Chamber and beyond has left an impression on many top-ranking business officials around Memphis.
“After Phil’s death, the Chamber needed a leader with both a strong vision for this community and a deep compassion for an organization that had just suffered a tremendous loss,” says Richard W. Smith, president and CEO-elect of FedEx Express and past chairman of the Chamber’s board of directors. “We needed a champion to carry on the growth-focused ‘Prosperity for All’ mission that Phil had started, and to build and improve upon it. Beverly was that champion. A trailblazer who became the right leader at the right time, she leaves our Chamber better than she found it.”
But the real work is never done, and Robertson knows that better than anyone else. Many of the problems she has sought to fix are deep-rooted, requiring tremendous effort to solve and needing the entire city to be pulling in the same direction. But the foundation she laid during her time at the Chamber is ready to launch Memphis to the next level. And in the meantime, Robertson isn’t going anywhere.
“I had always envisioned my time at the Chamber as around a five-year commitment. Afterwards, I’ll turn my focus to building our business at TRUST Marketing. Creating a succession path where we can grow, hire more people, and hopefully become a bigger player in the city. We’re committed to this city and we’re going to stay here. And that’s really an important role for me. I’ve been working consistently for a long time, I can’t tell you how long, and it’s time for me to be able to breathe a little bit. I’ll hopefully have the flexibility to travel and do some other fun things. But I still want to stay engaged. I still want to help drive transformational change. That’s really critical for Memphis as we grow and advance into our future.”
