ACCE Lifetime Achievement Award
Life Member Awards – ACCE
Having served 40 years in the chamber profession, Charles H. Van Rysselberge is truly a career chamber executive. As a student at the University of Georgia, he worked part-time for chambers in Athens, Ga., Columbia and Greenville, S.C. His master’s thesis was on chamber communication programs in metropolitan U.S. cities.
Following military service, Charles’ first full-time chamber job was as marketing director for the Shreveport, La., chamber, and went on to serve the Chattanooga, Tenn., and Monroe, La., chambers. Other career stops included:
- 2002-2011: President & CEO, Charleston Metro (S.C.) Chamber of Commerce
- 2001-2002: Consultant, Fremont Development Group, Atlanta, Ga.
- 1993-2001: President & CEO, Greater Oklahoma City (OK) Chamber of Commerce
- 1988-1993: Executive Vice President, Metro Atlanta (GA) Chamber of Commerce
- 1986-1988: President & CEO, Shreveport (LA) Chamber of Commerce
- 1981-1986: President & CEO, Dalton (GA) Chamber of Commerce
His accomplishments in Oklahoma City and Charleston are particularly noteworthy. In Oklahoma City, he transformed the chamber into a political and economic development powerhouse by raising more than $25 million in special funds for economic development and to underwrite public ballot initiatives which led to a multi-billion dollar renaissance of downtown OKC. As the chamber grew from 2,300 members to more than 4,000, staff increased and diversified programs were installed. As a result, the chamber was recognized by NAMD as a finalist for “Chamber of the Year,” and earned the Commitment award from the Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation. Charles was named “Man of the Year” by a local newspaper.
In 2002, he arrived in Charleston to manage a chamber that was over a million dollars in debt. In a few years the debt was wiped out and by the time of his retirement boasted a $1 million surplus. The chamber has twice been awarded Five Star Accreditation by the U.S. Chamber and was an ACCE Chamber of the Year finalist.
Charles has served on the ACCE Board of Directors and the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, and had leadership roles in several state associations. He served two terms on the Board of Regents of the U.S. Chamber Institute and has joined the faculty for 2013. Since his retirement in 2011, Charles has been president of CVR Consulting, LLC, where he consults on community collaboration, revenue generation and business/association services. Holding dual citizenship (American and Belgian), he is a South Carolina Consular Corps member and serves as the foreign trade advisor for Belgium.
