Adam Myers didn’t have to dig deep to find the motivation to succeed in what’s become his career. He’d lived it.
“One of my inspirations (to work in) economic development was my own journey,” says Myers, who’s in his second year as vice president for economic/talent development at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.
“I know what it means to help create jobs. Nothing improves quality of life like a good-paying job. I want to create opportunities for people, and I want to make sure graduating college students have the chances I didn’t.”
A Tampa, Florida, native, Myers says he was planning on majoring in criminal justice at the University of West Florida, until friends nudged him to try turning his love for, and knowledge of, movies into something more than a hobby.
“They called me a walking encyclopedia of film and said, ‘Why aren’t you going after that?'” says Myers, who counts the original “Star Wars” trilogy, “Jurassic Park” and “The Princess Bride” among his all-time favorite movies.
“I was really passionate about it,” he adds, “so I said, ‘why not?'”
He earned his undergraduate degree in communications in 2009, when the Great Recession was taking its toll on the U.S. economy. He struggled to find solid, full-time work but made do with a series of freelance jobs.
“I was behind the scenes,” he recalls. “I was fine being on a set, but I really like pre- or post-production, working on a story, being in the editing room, where you can craft the story.”
But he decided three years on from graduation that “film was not working out.”
“I was applying for so many jobs,” he says, “and seeing (job) postings was very disheartening — even entry-level jobs required three to five years of experience. I got to a point where I’d get excited to get a rejection letter.”
He knew he need to make a change, and started his search to find something more stable.
Despite submitting what he calls “one of the saddest cover letters ever,” Adam Myers landed an administrative support role at the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce in 2012. His minor in West Florida history caught the eye of the chamber’s economic development executives, which helped pave the way to a new position in economic development.
“Given what I’d experienced, I was able to see immediately why economic development is so important,” he says.
Myers moved home in 2014 to take a job at the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, where the pace was considerably quicker.
“In Pensacola, we announced five projects a year,” he recalls. “In Tampa, it was more like 30 projects a year — real estate, business-park development, job-creation projects.”
Myers says his last title in Tampa was senior director for business development, but he also served as the interim vice president, managing the entire business development operation. He didn’t get the permanent VP job there, but says he was already looking ahead.
“I knew I was ready for a VP role, ready for that next step,” he says. “I wanted to get back to a mid-size city, and I was looking for that next up-and-coming community.”
Myers felt Chattanooga was the right fit instantaneously, and got the job in late 2023.
He looks back on the decision as being a “very positive move.” Chattanooga has been welcoming from the beginning, and he enjoys having all four seasons.
Wood calls Myers “an ideal fit” for the team, citing the new vice president’s “extensive experience in recruiting companies within our target industries, combined with his unwavering professionalism.”
“Adam’s deep deep understanding of the market and his ability to connect with key partners has already played a pivotal role in many of our recent successes,” Wood writes in an e-mail. “Additionally, his enthusiasm for Chattanooga and his commitment to our community’s growth further solidified our decision to bring him on board.”
Myers says the Chattanooga area has a lot of momentum right now.
“Chattanooga has always been a city that continually transforms itself,” he adds. “The city has a lot of upside, and I love helping to create that upside.
“To me, that’s very much intertwined with creating opportunities for people — connecting the dots between talent and the needs business is asking for.”
Adam Myers
* Age: 37
* Job: VP, Economic/Talent Development, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce
* Education: University of West Florida (Pensacola), BA, communications (2009)
* Career: Free-lance television/film production in/around Tampa, Florida 2009-12; Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, 2012-14; Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, 2014-23
* Personal: Loves movies, especially “anything with a good story”; enjoys kayaking and being outside generally with Ramses, his 11-year-old Akita