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Royce Hickman and the Chambers of Commerce Ten Years Later
By JENNIFER MADDOX

On Sunday, January 13th, Chairman and CEO of the Bryan/College Station Chamber of Commerce Royce Hickman was surprised with a party celebrating his 10th anniversary at the Chamber. Over the last decade, the Chamber has expanded its membership to 1500, organized countless events, and has become one of the only Texas chambers to have a strong presence in Washington, D.C.

Prior to taking the job, Hickman had no Chamber experience. “I had experience that was important for the job,” said Hickman. “But I didn’t have that experience working in a Chamber.”

When Hickman learned about the job, he was finishing out his term as the president of the Association of Former Students. Mary, Hickman’s wife, had long since wanted to move back to Bryan/College Station, and since both of their grown children and all of their grandchildren were here, she finally put her foot down. Hickman applied for the job in the fall of 2007 while he still lived in Kingwood.

After a three-month-long interview process involving more than 40 applicants, Hickman started on January 12, 1998. As you might imagine, he had a few obstacles to overcome. He inherited a staff that he needed to become acquainted with, so he scheduled two-hour meetings with each staff member. Also, he had to learn what the Chamber was doing and what needed to be done. Additionally, the Chamber was emerging from a difficult financial situation that Hickman had to address. Finally, he needed to meet people. Not only did he strive to learn all of the Chamber members, he asked the board to help introduce him to the community leaders.

“If you’re going to be effective in the Chamber, you’ve got to know the people,” said Hickman.

Hickman believes the Chamber is more involved in the community than it was ten years ago. For instance, rather than holding 20 to 25 events per year, the Chamber now conducts close to 40 annual programs and events.

The Chamber is also trying to make more of a community impact with those events. Instead of bringing cakes to the teachers on Teacher Appreciation Day and holding banquets for honor students, the Chamber now holds Youth to Career Fair, an event designed to expose local 8th graders to the numerous careers available to them, and to encourage them to start planning now for their future. Last year, the event attracted nearly 3,000 8th graders from 17 school districts.

Furthermore, the Chamber has become very active legislatively. Although the Chamber had an active transportation committee at the time of his arrival, which among other things brought about the construction on Highway 6 South, Hickman said there wasn’t much else happening. Now, since 2000, the Chamber has made annual trips to Washington, D.C. and trips to Austin every other year to meet with elected officials and ensure that business-friendly legislation is passed.

Hickman says the thing he loves most about his job is the people. He credits the Chamber’s success to the staff, board, committees, and the countless volunteers. He credits much of his own success to his wife. “I couldn’t do this without her,” he said. “She’s been by my side for 45 plus years, and she has never failed to support me in anything.”