On Thursday, September 29, the Long Beach Post hosted an event to honor young people from around the city who are doing great things to better their community and beyond. Out of hundreds of nominations from our readers, judges chose 40 winners, representing a range of professions and activism. The Post will be profiling each honoree in the coming days.

Dubbed the “finest” senior vice president in the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s (LBACC) 125-year history, Jeremy Harris’ confidential nominator spoke of his policy knowledge and work to push the LBACC into the 21st Century through the launch of the first-ever Chamber mobile app during the Post‘s annual 40 Under 40 nomination process last month.  

Harris has long been a fixture in the Long Beach community, attending Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) with his now-wife Kellee, before working for 12 years with the late Shaun Lumachi. He worked closely with the Post co-founder, advocating on behalf of over 20 small chambers in Southern California.

“It’s always nice to be included in a group that, regardless of background, political makeup, or beliefs, we all share a common bond—assisting a city that is on the precipice of the next level,” said Harris, 38. “These are exciting times for the City of Long Beach.”

Harris has pushed to place Long Beach on the map, especially in terms of business. He founded and created the Chamber’s Long Beach Young Professionals program, booking all speakers and coming up with the programming of bimonthly breakfasts. He’s also the president and youngest member of the Southern California Chamber of Commerce Executives, and the only non-CEO member of the Executive Board of the WACE (Western Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives).

Harris is active in other parts of the Long Beach community, including the Rotary Club, Red Shoe Society at the Ronald McDonald House and the Dignity Health-St. Mary Medical Center Marketing Committee.

So, why does he stay involved in Long Beach?

“Long Beach allows for all,” said Harris. “Any given day you can witness what makes Long Beach a great place to live, work and play. Long Beach’s collective neighborhoods and business corridors is unrivaled to any other big city and it is only getting better.”

Above, left: Photo courtesy of Jeremy Harris.