Chamber president profile: Roslyn's Lonnie Goldman

Lonnie Goldman, financial representative specialist at JPMorgan Chase

Previous community involvement:

Prior member of other chambers of commerce where I used to live and also where I worked.

How many members are in your chamber?

245

When was your chamber founded?

Not sure. At the end of 2009 I took the initiative of restarting the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce, which hadn't met in over three years. From a first meeting in November 2009 where 29 eager business owners attended, to April 2010 when we first started collecting dues, the chamber has grown to 245 members in less than two years.

How would you describe the business community?

Roslyn offers an array of shops and eateries that are refreshingly unique in our increasingly homogenized world. There are no chain stores here and great care is taken to maintain its historical integrity. If you drive past the duck pond and the magnificently restored homes, with their great attention to detail, the beauty of the village will take your breath away.

It feels more balanced here, more humanly scaled, more concerned with connecting rather than bigger and better and more. It may be 2012, but for a little while, it's calming being able to connect with a simpler, more beautiful past in our everyday, modern world.

Roslyn is less about perfection and concrete parking lots and getting everything everyone else has. It's more about being interesting and celebrating the individual aesthetic in a world of keyboards and sound bites. You don't come here to find bargains, but you may find something you will cherish always and you may have the best meal, simple or elaborate, in one of the prettiest settings ever.

Briefly, what are the main issues for the chamber?

It’s likely not dissimilar to the challenges that other towns and chambers are facing. Making the town even more attractive to potential new customer and retaining the ones that we already have in these trying economic times.

How has being involved in the chamber helped your business?

I have met so many wonderful people in the chamber and through the chamber. The key to growing one’s business is the personal connections that we all make.

Ten years from now, how will things have changed?

Roslyn will become THE destination for anyone looking for a great meal and a shopping experience second to none, with parks and museums that will make you feel welcome and home. We are working hard to maintain a healthy and vibrant economic environment for our residents and merchants.

Tell us something no one knows about your community.

I had never stepped foot in Roslyn until the day I started at the bank in the village. All I can say is that if you've never been to Roslyn before you owe to yourself to pay us a visit. I always say, that when I walk into town it’s like walking in to an old European Village. It is just so quaint and charming.

Tell us something no one knows about yourself.

Knowing me today you would never guess that I grew up innately shy.