It's All Business For Reston Chamber's New President

RESTON, VA --When Mark Ingrao, the former CEO and president of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce announced he was leaving in June 2019, the Chamber went on a national search to find his successor. In the end, the organization opted to choose someone from within — Charles Kapur, a local banker who was then serving as the Chamber's chairman of the board.

"I've just come to really respect and admire the work that was done at the Chamber, of what it means to the business community," Kapur said. "So, I threw my hat in the ring, and the board went through their selection process. ... After the process was all said and done, I was offered the opportunity to step in and succeed Mark as as the new CEO."

Since Kapur occupied various positions and served on a number of committees and councils over the years as a member of the GRCC board, he was familiar with the Reston community, as well as the Chamber's mission and the issues it was facing when he assumed his new role last November.

Recently, Kapur sat down to answer a few questions about his first few months as the GRCC president and CEO.

Tell me about your your background before you came to Reston

I am a native Northern Virginian. They say it's a select group, but if you work around here, there's a few of us that are not completely transient. I was born in Alexandria. When I say native, I graduated George Mason, so I literally have just been in Northern Virginia my whole life. When I got out of college, I got into banking, so I worked for a variety of community banks in the area. I've pretty much worked all over Northern Virginia, involved with Loudoun County, Arlington, Alexandria, out in Prince William.

How did you first get involved with the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce?

I guess it was 2011, I was working for a bank and I had a colleague who had left the bank and I moved into his role. At that point, I was working at Loudoun County and I took over his territory in Reston. And along with that came an opportunity to serve on the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce Board. So I thought this was a great way to really get into the community.

Had you been involved in the Reston community much before that?

I had not worked in the community. Like most people, I knew the ice skating rank and I went to the Town Center a few times and that was pretty much it, and it was great. So, I got working at the Board and getting to know a lot of the members here, and over the years got more and more involved with the Reston community. I serve on the Board of the Greater Reston Arts Center as well. That's been a really fun way to get to know that side of the Reston community and the culture aspect of it.

How has your role changed now that you're the GRCC president and CEO?

As a CEO, my job is to now take this whole calendar of events that we offer to execute them as proficiently and as effectively as possible, and then be able to engage with my Board, with our membership. It's a fluid, dynamic thing. What worked a year or two or five years ago may or may not work now. There may be things that we gave up on a few years ago. It's time to revisit those things. What's old becomes new again. Every few years, our Board will take a look at the division of the Chamber, develop a strategic plan to guide it over the next set of years, constantly working towards meeting the mandate of that strategic plan. In fact, in 2019, the Board adopted a new four-year strategic plan, so we're just a little over a year into its execution and there's still a few more years left to go.

What are the big things that will be occupying the attention of the Reston business community and the Chamber over the next few years?

Number one is the amount of of economic development that's coming to Northern Virginia. The statistics bear out a million-plus people will be coming into this region over the next decade. With some of the major employers that have come into Northern Virginia, Nestle and Amazon, of course, Micron in Prince William County, there are those jobs that those employers are bringing with moving their worldwide headquarters here. Bechtel made a commitment to moving their worldwide headquarters to Reston a few years ago. So those jobs are obvious, but it's those ancillary service jobs that come to meet the demands of all of those people that are coming here for those employers. It's a dynamic time to own and operate a business, whether you're looking to engage a business to meet the demands of the people who are moving into the area.

The things that I think people are looking at first and foremost is their workforce. Where are you finding the people that you can hire to fill the jobs that you need? Whether that's people that have certain qualifications or credentials. Statewide, Virginia does a fantastic job of graduating some really phenomenal talent, but are we able to create an environment where those folks are staying in the area?

Then, once you have those people here, where are they coming from? Affordable housing. Are we developing the right mix as we're starting to see the skyline, not just in Reston but all over Northern Virginia, change? Are we doing sensible development where we're getting the right mix of housing so that these folks not only have an option of where to stay, but that the housing meets the demands and sort of the tastes of a new generation of people.

What's the 60-second elevator pitch you'd give to a business owner who's looking for a place to move her company in Northern Virginia? What do you tell her about Reston?

The one thing that has permeated Reston from day one is this openness. You could go into certain communities and you have to actively work at trying to break through the status quo of the people who have been there forever. Reston is the exact opposite. All are welcome. If you're new to the area, if you've made a decision to fix your gaze upon Reston, the people who are here are glad you are and are welcoming you in. It does not take that sort of ramp up time for you to be able to get in with the community.

What can the Chamber do for small business owners and even for people who may not think they're big enough to be in it?

If I decide to strike out on my own and I'm going to be an entrepreneur, that's one of the biggest decisions you can make for your family, for your life professionally, and you may make that decision because you are extremely well versed in whatever discipline or, or profession that you're operating. But all of the things that go along with making a successful business from marketing and business development, sales and the other infrastructure pieces, accounting and finance and legal, you're not necessarily going to be proficient enough in any of those things or as proficient as you'd like to be. So what do you do? Where do you go to most effectively be able to fill in those gaps to allow your business to thrive? And that's where I think the Chamber of Commerce can be so helpful for small business owner.

What's the best way for a small business owner to get involved in the Chamber?

Are you looking for the ability to just get in a room with other people so that you can give that elevator pitch and promote your brand, promote your services? We've got that with our networking mixers and our committees and councils, where you can work collaboratively with people who have similar interests as yours and be able to establish a rapport face to face. Even in 2020, there's nothing that replaces a handshake and look in the eye and know the person you're doing business with.

Is it education? ... We run two workshops a month led by members who are subject matter experts in various topics that you can come in for free as a member and walk away with easily actionable items, which is fantastic. Then we do larger speaking engagements, panel discussions, focused on a variety of disciplines from government contracting to a focus on our young professionals. So, you really have the ability to not just promote your brand, but really feel like you're getting a quality education.