President's Report: A Message From Our President & CEO Allie Williams

One of the coolest parts of my job is meeting people, making new friends, and building a stronger foundation for the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce. One such meeting came about from a colleague running a Chamber in Northern Virginia – She introduced me to Chris Raines, General Manager of the AC Hotel Bethesda. Chris was named GM several months ago and was managing a hotel in Arlington and active with the Arlington Chamber.

As many of you have seen, the AC Hotel is under construction at 4646 Montgomery Avenue and will certainly be a tremendous benefit to our community. I had the privilege of meeting Chris and Rodrigo Arandia, Director of Sales for the Hotel and was happy to tour the construction site and new entity.

We made our way from the lobby area through to the café and lounge to the 4-season, outdoor patio where I foresee a Chamber reception in the making.
Our journey took us up the elevators to the guest room floors, where I was treated to boundless views of downtown Bethesda and the promise of thoughtfully designed rooms for diverse travelers.
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Chris and Rodrigo have joined the GBCC and have already been active with a couple of Thought Leadership Councils, networking events and engaging with other members to share the story and new history of the AC Hotel Bethesda – Welcome Aboard!​

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