As we head towards December 31st, we reflect on what has surely been the most unusual year of our lives. Over the course of the past 12 months, the corona virus has claimed over a million lives globally, brought countries to a standstill, and exacerbated some societal divides. As keen as we are to see the end of 2020, we should not miss an opportunity to reflect on what we have achieved together despite the challenges we faced. In 2020, AmCham and its members created access to opportunities through:

• Networking: Creating over 250 online programs throughout the year that allowed small and large groups in Australia and America to connect and discuss business opportunities;
• Advocacy: Following through on our annual doorknock to Canberra despite the Parliamentary ban on visitors – all meetings with Ministers, Shadow Ministers and Department Secretaries were held via Zoom;
• Access: Expanding the exclusive Chairman’s Circle events to include a range of members across the country, offering access to leaders such as Jeffrey Bleich, Guy Kawasaki, David Petraeus, and Shemara Wikramanayake;
• Visibility: Launching The Alliance, a six-part television show on SkyNews featuring the work of many AmCham member companies; and
• Information: Pivoting to online events and creating several new and very popular webinar series such as Live From America, The Commercialisation of Space and The Future Of Everything.

We welcomed a dynamic new Chairman, Dr Brendan Nelson AO, and Vice Chairman, Bill Ruh;

We appointed Chairs of our Councils of Governors across the country:

• NSW
  Chair- Robert Le Busque, Regional Vice President, Verizon Business Group- Asia Pacific
  Vice Chair- Robyn Denholm, Chair, Tesla
• VIC
  Chair- Jeanne Johns, CEO and Managing Director, Incitec Pivot
  Vice Chair- Nick Nichola, Managing Partner, K&L Gates
• SA
  Chair- Hon Christopher Pyne, Founder, Pyne and Partners
• WA
  Chair- Mrs Gina Rinehart, Executive Chairman, Hancock Prospecting Group
• QLD
  Chair- Karl Morris, CEO and Managing Director, Ord Minnett

We enhanced the value proposition to such an extent that AmCham membership reached an all-time high;

We supported members who were struggling due to COVID;

We farewelled one amazing board member, Martin Creighan, and welcomed another, Laura Anderson;

We launched the ground breaking study, Building Prosperity, in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin that found a significant percentage of the Australian GDP is a result of American trade and investment;

We inaugurated a new focus on the commercialisation of space, with dozens of companies joining our new committee on Space;

We reimagined diversity and inclusion in a new webinar series for corporates to rebuild after the pandemic;

We expanded the AmCham Global Leadership Academy through Zoom to allow participants across the country to learn from over 50 corporate titans, thought leaders and government officials;

We established partnerships with several other organisations in the United States that will act as force multipliers for the work of AmCham and its members;

We began holding Live From America webinars, featuring top voices from the United States focusing on issues important to Australia;

We launched a report from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute highlighting the connections between Silicon Valley and Australia, along with opportunities for future business;

We featured our members in the SkyNews television series The Alliance;

We established a CEO Regulatory Reform Task Force with support from PwC; the group will communicate its findings to Government in the beginning of 2021; and

We pledged to ‘Give a Vet a Go’ and increase veteran employment within the civilian workforce.

For all of these reasons and more, I will look back on 2020 as a year not only of devastating disease, dislocation, and disruption, but also as a year when opportunity and innovation allowed AmCham members to reassess, regroup and rebuild.

From all of us at the Chamber, we wish you a restful and regenerative holiday break, and we will see you early in 2021, ready to offer even more access to opportunity.