Cottonwood Heights partnered with the South Valley Chamber of Commerce to provide members of the city’s business community opportunities and resources for growth and education. Their president and CEO, Jay Francis, presented the annual report, reflecting on the Chamber’s highlights from 2025 and forecasting plans for 2026, to the city council on April 4. 

“Our theme is ‘Better Together.’ We connect, educate, advocate and grow…We do like to make sure we have a little bit of fun,” Francis said.

In 2025, the South Valley Chamber held five lunch events with 728 attendees, seven Grow and Connect events with over 600 attendees; five Meet the Member events with 396 attendees, three golf tournaments with over 400 participants and their annual Titan Awards to honor small businesses from the previous year. They also hold seminars, executive forums, legislative review events and Meet the Candidate nights. 

Each year, the South Valley Chamber sponsors a Junior Women in Business program. In 2025, 24 high school seniors from the Canyons and Jordan School districts participated. After attending business events, participating in personal mentoring and completing a service project, the 24 seniors graduated from the Junior Women in Business program, earning a $1,000 scholarship. 

Abigail Elmer and Kellyn Hovi from Herriman High School take first place for their business idea KIVI. (Photo courtesy of the South Valley Chamber)

“They rub shoulders with the women in our Women in Business,” Francis said. “Our Women in Business is off the charts.”

In addition to this program, the Chamber’s Women in Business Committee under Managing Director Jayme Jensen, held 10 different events in 2025 drawing 1,275 attendees. Other programs hosted by the South Valley Chamber provided opportunities to business leaders such as the Leadership South Valley program and Business Boot Camp. 

“We have our Business Accelerators, which we call our mini MBA, which helps small businesses, after they’ve been in business for a year or two, really learn how to grow and continue to launch,” Francis said.

South Valley Chamber’s Everyday Entrepreneur program grew in 2025 and will continue through 2026. The program leads aspiring business owners and entrepreneurs through a 10-week course to help them get ready to launch their business or product. 

“Some of the best success we have is that some of them, by week five or six, say ‘um…yeah…maybe I’m not ready.’ We’ve saved them thousands of dollars,” Francis said.

Working with Sports Salt Lake for the Chamber’s Tourism Committee, 179,729 visitors were brought into the south end of the valley for sporting events during 2025. 

“The economic impact of that brought to the south valley was $66 million…we invested less than $80,000 to make that happen,” Francis said.

The top four of those sporting events included the Western Nationals for the National Archery in the Schools Program; Triple Crown Western Invitational for Triple Crown Sports; Jam On It; and the Region One Championships and Development Program National Championships for USA Gymnastics. 

“We are moving forward fast in 2026 already,” Francis said. “We are going to be focused, we are going to be strategic, and we are going to be purpose-driven.”

The South Valley Chamber held their own version of “Shark Tank” focusing on student entrepreneurs in March. Nine thousand and five hundred dollars was awarded to 10 students who pitched their business ideas. 

“Truth be told, that’s what we awarded, but Brandon Fugal was one of the judges and he came with a little extra cash in his pocket and some of the (students) got a little Brandon Fugal money,” Francis said referring to the Utah businessman, real estate developer, venture capitalist, philanthropist and entrepreneur. 

Abigail Elmer and Kellyn Hovi from Herriman High School won first place for the event; Aiden Leon from Alta High School won second place; Cash Christensen, Kolton Candelaria and Ayson Christensen from Riverton and Bingham high schools won third place.

“It continues to be one of my favorite events because regardless of what we hear about what’s going on in the community, what’s going on in the world, you go away from this event saying ‘OK, with youth like that we’re going to be OK,’” Francis said.

In 2026, the South Valley Chamber will be hosting at least five different Business Boot Camps with workshops on topics such as sales and marketing and Grow and Connect events every month. In May, they will be holding their monthly event in Cottonwood Heights at Eight Settlers Distillery & Restaurant (7321 Canyon Centre Pkwy.). They will also announce their Small Business Impact Awards on May 5 (same location). 

“We have grown over the last five years as a chamber and now it’s important for us to retain and provide value,” Francis said. 

Eleven student teams took the stage at South Valley Chamber’s “Shark Tank”-style event and presented their business ideas. (Photo courtesy of the South Valley Chamber)