Woke Chattanooga Chamber President And CEO Accepts New Job in Oklahoma City

Image Credit: Chattanooga Area Chamber

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

Christy Gillenwater has been a continual source of contention in her five years as president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, but she is now moving to Oklahoma City for a similar position.

Gillenwater spent a good bit of her time in the position waging a campaign for greater Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as noted in the many references to such on the Chamber website. One of these tactics involved sending an email in April 2021 to a number of CEOs and managers in Chattanooga, urging them to sign a “CEO Pledge for Racial Equality.”

According to the pledge, “The Chamber’s CEO Pledge for Racial Equity is a commitment by CEOs to intentionally enhance their efforts to achieve equity of opportunity within organizations and the broader Chattanooga community…this is accomplished by dismantling policies that restrict access to capital, prevent wealth creation, promote incarceration, and limit training and education.”

At the time of the email, Chamber board members and other Chamber members voiced their concerns regarding the pledge. They felt that it implied that they had been racist in their business practices and attempted to forcibly make them admit to participation in systemic racism, which they believed was an unproven theory. They also argued that the pledge was an attempt to force them to use race as a means of hiring instead of merit.

The pledge also included statements such as, “We will educate ourselves and share history of systemic racism in Chattanooga and Hamilton County” and “We will use our influence and position to amplify unheard voices and support policies that lead to racial justice.”

In a March meeting earlier that year with the Hamilton County Commission, District 8 Commissioner Tim Boyd asked Gillenwater, “Why does it seem that over the last year and a half, there seems to be a preoccupation of the Chamber getting into political and racial issues?”

Boyd argued at that time that Gillenwater’s role with the Chamber was to create jobs, not to work on policy and social issues. 

According to the Chattanoogan, Gillenwater’s push of this far-left ideology led to “hiring a newly established Vice President of Diversity and Inclusive Growth.” 

The Chamber also now annually hosts a DIVERSIFY summit and claims that “the DEI program offers employers and entrepreneurs unique opportunities to network among and empower the business community in the Chattanooga region.”

Shortly after Gillenwater’s pledge was released, District 7 Commissioner Sabrena Smedley stated that she did not believe that the Chattanooga area was racist and did not think that the racial issues that Gillenwater kept trying to address were relevant to Hamilton County.

“We have an influx of people moving into this community from other areas, so we’re very, very fortunate…they’re doing their research and their homework before they decide to uproot, move, and relocate here…we should be very proud of our area,” Smedley stated. 

Gillenwater is set to begin her new role as president and CEO of The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber in January 2023. 

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com