Contents

04  Welcome and Leadership

06  Celebrating 70 Years of The Chamber St. Matthews

10  Golf Scramble - July 18th

12  The Benefits Firm returns to St. Matthews

14  The Learning Tree

18  Ribbon Cuttings

19  Membership Directory

Leadership

Chamber Staff

Josh Suiter
Chief Executive Officer

Virginia Hart
Chief Operating Officer

Amanda Harper
Director of Member Services

Andie Boyd
Membership Coordinator

Executive Directors

Shelly Gardner
President
Keller Williams Louisville East

Amber Clark
Vice President
Amber Clark, LLC

Megan Jones
Sergeant at Arms
Rivers Edge Events & Rentals

Sara Aschbacher
Secretary
Lincoln Insurance Agency

Jeremy Koonce
Treasurer
Custom Select Realty

Board of Directors

Rensha Allen
Thomas Allen AllState

Jonathan Braden
Higginbotham

Misty Enright
Misty Enright Photography

Kenya Freeman
Workwell Industries

Eric Pohler
Precision Home Inspections

Maria Mears
Stroll NoCo

Christy Smallwood
Eagle Eye Strategies LLC

Dee Dee Taylor
502 Hemp

Jackson Thompson
Independence Bank

Chris Wolfe
Wolfe & Bosch

The Past as Prologue

Chamber of St. Matthews looks back on its storied past while growing and evolving to meet the future

Seven decades and going strong. As The Chamber St. Matthews marks its 70th anniversary, the organization remains a vital force in promoting local businesses and businesspeople.

Crysten Minzenberger, owner of PrintWorx of Louisville, a printing, design, communications and marketing company, is a case in point.

In 2005, upon purchasing her company, which produces everything from business cards and letterhead to banners and posters to promotional items such as pens, coffee mugs and logoed clothing, the director of what was then the St. Matthews Area Business Association approached Minzenberger and encouraged her to get involved with the group.

“And so I became a member,” she recalls. “I got on committees and met new people and it started to help my own business boom as people knew me and trusted me within the chamber. I met a lot of people, and my business was booming because of it. And I just stayed involved, they had a lot of great events, and it was just a wonderful networking environment.”

Minzenberger went on to serve as a board member, vice president and president with the organization.

“It was great,” she explains. “I got involved shortly after I bought my business and was very involved until just a few years ago.”

According to Josh Suiter, CEO of The Chamber St. Matthews, the organization’s roots can be traced back to efforts by the City of Louisville to annex parts of the St. Matthews community in 1955.

“It started with 80 business owners with a passion to change annexation, which led to our being here today,” says Suiter. “Those business owners decided they didn’t want pieces of St. Matthews to be annexed, so they started fighting it.”

The rest, as they say, is history. With the annexation battle behind them, the organization and its members turned their attention to promoting businesses in St. Matthews and beyond. And 2025 will see the chamber mark the anniversary with a series of events throughout the year. The festivities began with the chamber’s annual dinner on Feb. 20.

At that dinner, Suiter and the chamber spotlighted the chamber’s history and even unveiled a slight name revision, new logo with a new color scheme with help from Element 502, a chamber member as well as some new chamber branding parameters.

“The new logo spotlights how we celebrate diversity as an organization, how we promote growth, how we encourage our members to grow and to look for ways to give back to the community,” Suiter stresses. “They’ve done such a great job with it that we couldn’t be any happier with what they brought to the table. All of that is because, entering into our 70th year, we felt like it was time to let our brand tell our story more, tell more of who we are as an organization.”

Also announced at the dinner was the rollout of a new tax-exempt 501(c)(3) foundation to fund grants for local businesses and scholarships for working adults.

“We’ve got some big things to unveil and throw out there,” says Suiter. “We’re just getting excited about celebrating where we’ve come from and where we are today and where we think we’re going to go in the next couple of years.”

And, The Chamber CEO says, momentum from the dinner and the anniversary will carry through to subsequent local events, including one featuring food trucks and another, later and larger gathering. Further, it would not be surprising to see chamber members touting their accomplishments at two events that the group has helped to build out, Halloween in Brown Park and Lights Up St. Matthews.

“It’s all coming together,” says Suiter, “with the whole point of just celebrating those people who got us where we are today making the organization the leader that it is in the region.”

During the anniversary year, Suiter offers, The Chamber will be paying tribute not only to the victorious battle against annexation, but also those businesses that have flourished and grown with an assist from the chamber.

“When I got here in 2016, this chamber was about 700 members, and today we are a little over 1,800,” he says. “And we have gone from being the fifth largest chamber in Louisville to the second largest, and we’re closing in on becoming the largest, hopefully by the end of 2025.”

Suiter mentioned two member businesses, Plehns Bakery and the Inn at Woodhaven as two that have utilized their relationships with the chamber to build meaningful relationships within the community and grow their businesses.

“Really, at the end of the day, what we’re doing is we’re just bringing the community closer,” says Suiter. “So as we look at what we celebrate, we celebrate the fact that we’ve got a thriving business community within a large local metro area that is a destination. It’s a place where people come to shop. They come to eat. They come to St. Matthews to stay for overnight trips.”

Suiter’s group will also be celebrating more recent history.

“Another thing we’re definitely going to celebrate is that we helped get businesses through COVID-19,” he explains. “We only lost 10 businesses to closure, and while 10 is a lot, it’s a lot less that what some of our fellow chambers across the country saw close as a result of COVID.”

It’s all part of a seven-decade history of a group that, until 20 years ago, was built around volunteers and sharp leadership.

“Over the years, we’ve had some great boards who have stepped up and supported those staffs,” Suiter enthuses. “And many of those were small business owners who – let’s be honest – should have been busy with their own businesses, but they were here supporting us and helping us. And because of that, we have offerings that some chambers don’t, including owning our own health insurance plan, which helps us support small business owners who couldn’t afford to provide health insurance for their employees. And that plan has 500 businesses on it.”

It’s initiatives like that over its 70-year history that have made The Chamber St. Matthews an essential force in the community, adds Crysten Minzenberger of PrintWorx of Louisville.

“As long as your members find value, then you’re going to stay there,” she says. “And I think all of the St. Matthew’s members have found value over the years. And it helps to have good staff along the way who put on good events and help to retain the members and build relationships with the members. … It’s a great organization, one that has grown over the years, has changed, has evolved. And it has obviously provided value to it members.”

Golf Scramble July 18

The 3rd Annual Chamber of St. Matthews Golf Scramble will be held on July 18 at Eagle Creek Golf Course, 2820 KY-53 in La Grange. There will be a shotgun start around 9 a.m.

This year’s scramble will feature a hole in one contest and the popular golf ball cannon, which will help shoot the ball closer to the hole. In addition, the Chamber will sell mulligans and Luck Be A Lady, where you can buy an opportunity to hit from the lady’s tee. Plus, the beer cart sponsored by KHIT Consulting will be making its rounds during the scramble.

The scramble is a fundraiser to help the Chamber with its operating expenses. It has become a fun, annual tradition for all to enjoy! In addition, the course’s new clubhouse should be completed.

The Chamber is looking for hole sponsors, along with individuals and companies to donate items for the goodie bags. The cost is $600 for a foursome. Single registration, you will be paired up with other players, is $150. This includes a round of golf, two carts, and lunch.

“We are excited for this year’s scramble and we are even more excited that it is a fundraiser to help with the start-up costs for our new Chamber foundation,” said Josh Suiter, The Chamber St. Matthews CEO. “We can’t wait to see you all on the green and to see which team wins this year.”

For more information or to register, go to https://business.stmatthewschamber.com/events/details/st-matthews-golf-scramble-9397 or email Virginia Hart @[email protected].

Move to St. Matthews brings: The Benefits Firm ‘back to our roots’

By Jeff Wisser

You can go home again. The Benefits Firm and its founder and owner, Billy Fowler, have done just that.

Launched in 2003 as a boutique financial and supplemental insurance firm, Fowler’s company moved from its original home in St. Matthews to a location in downtown Louisville. After 10 years downtown, though, Fowler and firm are enjoying a homecoming.

“We started out in St. Matthews way back in the day,” Fowler said. “And we’ve recently moved back from downtown into St. Matthews. It’s a tight-knit community and we’re right in the heart of it. So it’s like getting back to our roots.”

Fowler started out as a self-described “investment guy,” with stops at Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter and Morgan Keegan before breaking out on his own as an investment adviser.

But it was while working with local small businesses on their retirement plans that Fowler discovered his true calling.

“As I was working with many small business owners, basically I figured out they weren’t really worried about their investments as much as they were worried about the cost of their health insurance and employee benefits. Because it was such a growing cost,” he said. “And almost everyone I would talk to would say, ‘Well, I’m not really worried about my 401(k) plan, but I’m really worried about my health insurance because it keeps growing.’

“So over a period of years, I saw that that was a major need for small business owners. So we just started in that market, finding solutions for those businesses, whether through another carrier, whether it be through some kind of different type plan, just trying to be creative to help buffer that cost, that large cost that they have.”

The Benefits Firm specializes in group health insurance, but also offers individual and Medicare insurance, and dental, life and disability plans.

But working closely with small businesses is their specialty.

“Two- to 50-person companies is really the market,” Fowler said, “but realistically, most small businesses are two to 20 employees. And oftentimes it’s a husband and wife doing it together, and there are a lot of times when other family members are involved.”

That size model is a bit small for the big corporate insurance brokers, and such small operators don’t have the leverage to command the most competitive pricing. That’s where Fowler’s group comes in.

“What we’ve done is we’ve created a pool of people that are small businesses that come together for pricing purposes,” he explained. “We now have several thousand people involved in this. And so when we go to a carrier – Anthem is our primary carrier in Kentucky – we get better pricing as if we were a big company. So instead of being a two-person company, you’re a 6,000-person company.”

There is strength in numbers, and Fowler feels strongly about that.

“Especially in tight economies, small businesses don’t make a lot of money,” he said. “Now, there are some that just take off and grow, but most, they basically make enough money so their family can make a living, they can send their kids to college. And when you can help them a little bit, get something like health insurance and be able to maintain it, it’s very important. … People get sick, people have accidents, so health insurance is very personal. And if you can provide that health insurance at some kind of decent price where they can insure their employees, their families, it’s very important, and it’s very satisfying to do that.”

And being able to do that for small businesses in Kentuckiana from St. Matthews, where it all started, is even more satisfying.

“We started out in St. Matthews, and I’d always maintained my great relationship with the Chamber of St. Matthews, I was president at one time,” Fowler said. “We started this association in partnership with Anthem and the Chamber of St. Matthews, and the tentacles now reach all throughout Kentucky and beyond, and we insure hundreds of businesses. And it all started out basically in St. Matthews, through this little chamber of commerce. But that chamber has really grown with the plan, and we’re helping people all over the state, helping thousands of people.”

And that is what brings it all back home for Fowler and The Benefits Firm.

“The involvement with the Chamber of St. Matthews is great,” he said, “And the fact that we’re back in St. Matthews now as a firm, well, that’s the story right there.”

The Benefits Firm, 136 Breckinridge Lane, Suite 101, in Louisville, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Visit thebenefitsfirm.com, email [email protected] or call (502) 451-4560 for more information.

The Learning Tree

For Madison Eger and the staff at The Learning Tree Dayschool in St. Matthews, caring for children isn’t just a business. It’s a passion.

Eger, 23, has been involved in day care work since age 14 and has worked professionally in the field for four years.

“When I was in high school, I started working in children’s ministry, and then I went off to college for business and accounting,” she recalls. “And I just realized that that wasn’t my thing, that I wanted to come back and be with my kids.”

And now Eger is the driving force behind Learning Tree, whose mission is to provide a high-quality, safe, and nurturing environment that excels in children’s education. Learning Tree is dedicated to helping children grow to their fullest potential through engaging, hands-on activities and real-life experiences. Eger and company believe that every child is unique and deserves a customized approach to learning, and the small-scale school allows the facility to choose exceptional teachers who are passionate about early childhood education and committed to watching children at the school flourish.

“If I were a parent, what I would expect and what I would want for my kid is how I would want to run a business for kids,” Eger says.

It begins with providing an environment that is safe and secure for children.

“Safety is a top priority,” says Eger.

At Learning Tree, that means security cameras throughout the facility, including classrooms, playgrounds and the perimeter of the building, with live streaming access for parents. The facility features a secure entry system with security door codes for each family so that no one can enter the building without being known. In addition, the school holds \regular emergency drills.

Curriculum is another area of intense focus.

In its classrooms for both pre-school students (ages 2.5-3, limited to 10 children) and pre-K (ages 4-5, limited to 14), Learning Tree offers individualized learning based on the child. That might mean having a week themed to snow or snowmen following a winter storm or, in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, discussion of the shape and color of hearts or where hearts are found.

“It means that all of the activities that we do and ways we get the children engaged are age-friendly and meet them where they are at,” Eger explains. “So it’s not too easy or too challenging for them, but it’s definitely at the level where they’re going to learn and be engaged.”

Nutrition, too, is a key element of what Learning Tree offers, with the school serving balanced, appealing meals that support the children’s growth and development. A key factor here is that meals are served family-style.

“I’ve done family-style at my other day cares, and I really love it,” says Eger. “It pretty much just promotes the kids. One, they learn to scoop themselves and do portions, and then also, if they’re hesitant on a food that they may not like, or have never had before, when they see their friends scooping it, they get encouraged to do it as well and maybe want to try foods that they haven’t had before.”

This approach allows children to be engaged with their meals on a higher level.

“It’s different than if I just gave them a plate that is already made up – if they scoop it themselves and make their plate, they know they did it themselves and they’re more interested in it than if you would have done it for them.”

One special feature at Learning Tree Dayschool is the parents communication app that allows mothers and fathers to observe their kids’ activities during the day.

“We have the live streaming cameras for the parents so they can check in on what’s going on as often as they like throughout the day,” Eger says. “So, what the kids eat, when they nap, diaper changes, curriculum, all of that’s always posted and parents are kept up to date.

For parents and their children, it’s a safe, secure and nurturing environment that allows kids to develop at their own speed and level.

And for Eger, it’s the opportunity to put her experience and skills to work in a field about which she feels passionate.

“I’m very much a leader,” she explains, “so I feel that in any job I’m in, I want to do the best that I can and help others around me. In this job, I get to both direct the kids as well as set up an environment that is made especially for them.”

The Learning Tree Dayschool is located at 103 Fairmeade Road in Louisville. Hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, or to schedule a visit, go to thelearningtreeky.com, email [email protected] or call (502) 888-8733.

The Inn at Woodhaven

Celebrated the home of the bed and breakfast turning 172 years old with a ribbon cutting. They are located at 401 S. Hubbards Lane and are a bed and breakfast in St. Matthews.

SLUMBERBEST

Celebrated its grand opening on Jan. 22 with a ribbon cutting at 260 N. Hurstbourne Parkway. They are a mattress and pillow retailer.

Belmont Village Senior Living

A senior living community, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a ribbon cutting on Dec. 4 at 4600 Bowling Blvd.