Dr. James Gatling Named Chairman of Waterbury Regional Chamber

May 10, 2011 - PRLog -- James H. Gatling, Ph.D., president and CEO of New Opportunities, Inc. in Waterbury, has been named the Waterbury Regional Chamber Chairman of the Board. Dr. James Gatling is a highly influential and respected leader in the Waterbury region who is recognized as a strong voice for change in his own community-based organization as well as the entire region, and on state and national levels.

In 2008, Dr. Gatling was awarded the highly-prestigious Malcolm Baldrige Leadership Award by the Waterbury Regional Chamber. In 2010, he was named one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in CT by the Connecticut Conference of the NAACP, in which he is a Life Member of the Waterbury Chapter. In 2011, he was honored as the Waterbury Black Mayor for the Day.

Since 1979, Dr. Gatling has served as the president and CEO of New Opportunities, Inc., a community action agency that serves the Waterbury, Meriden and Torrington cities in Connecticut. Through the past three decades, he has admirably employed a heralded blend of operational expertise with skilled abilities to develop relationships among culturally diverse groups. He has demonstrated strong team and consensus building skills which have resulted in a dramatic expansion of programming in the New Opportunities, Inc. service arenas.

Dr. Gatling has also made significant contributions to the development and implementation of statewide and regional community action programs. The New Opportunities, Inc. agency operates a large number of social programs including Head Start, Day Care, School Readiness, energy assistance, weatherization, housing, Generic Case Management, various self sufficiency instructional programs, One Stop, and emergency services program, an elderly nutrition program, RSVP, Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions and HIV AIDS Medical Case Management.

For more than 30 years, Dr. James Gatling has been an active member of numerous professional, community and fraternal organizations throughout Waterbury and the state of Connecticut. Most recently, he has served as Waterbury Regional Chamber Board of Directors First Vice Chairman; president of the Connecticut Community Action Association; Waterbury Hospital Board of Trustees; Waterbury Development Corporation Board of Directors; Low-Income Energy Advisory Board; Commission on Non-Profit Health and Human Services; and the CT Association of Human Services Board of Directors.

Dr. Gatling received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from LaSalle University; his MBA in Management from the University of New Haven; and his BA in Chemistry from Hampton Institute. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in Human Letters from the formerly named Teikyo Post University, currently named Post University, in Waterbury, CT. After receiving his undergraduate degree, for nine years he worked as a production scheduling manager, process engineer and research chemist with Uniroyal Chemical Company.

The highly-influential Waterbury Regional Chamber (www.waterburychamber.com) is one of the largest Chambers in the State of Connecticut. Lynn Ward of Waterbury has served as the president and CEO since 2009. The organization represents over 1,100 businesses in the Greater Waterbury region including Beacon Falls, Bethlehem, Cheshire, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Oakville, Oxford, Prospect, Southbury, Thomaston, Waterbury, Watertown, Wolcott, and Woodbury.

To learn more about the Waterbury Regional Chamber visit www.waterburychamber.com, call 203-757-0701, or email to info@waterburychamber.com.

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The Waterbury Regional Chamber represents over 1,100 businesses in the Greater Waterbury, Connecticut region including Beacon Falls, Bethlehem, Cheshire, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Oakville, Oxford, Prospect, Southbury, Thomaston, Waterbury, Watertown, Wolcott, and Woodbury. Economic development and public policy are key priorities for the chamber.

The Greater Waterbury Regional Chamber encompasses the Naugatuck Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Watertown/Oakville Chamber of Commerce. The chamber includes a Health Care Council consortium of health care professionals in the area; and has coordinated and hosted for the past 28 years the largest annual convention of businesswomen in Connecticut - the Business Women's Form (BWF) in Hartford - twhich will be held Oct. 18, 2011 at the CT Convention Center.

The chamber employs a full-time lobbyist in Hartford for legislative advocacy; a strong economic development program; a manufacturer's council; and hosts an annual Business Expo.