Terry MacRae, chief executive officer, president and founder of Hornblower Cruises & Events, has been elected the 2018 chair of the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
“In the year ahead, we will continue the CalChamber practice of statesmanship and sportsmanship,” said MacRae. “There are strong headwinds, and more storm clouds on the horizon (we call those job killers) as usual…so as we go forward with the CalChamber mission in 2018, let’s consider the words of Albert Einstein: ‘A ship is always safe at shore, but that is not what it’s built for.’ I look forward to serving as captain for the next year and supporting the fine seamanship of the CalChamber team.”
2018 Officers
Serving with MacRae as 2018 officers of the CalChamber Board are:
• First Vice Chair Grace Evans Cherashore, executive chairwoman for Evans Hotels;
• Second Vice Chair Mark Jansen, president and chief executive officer of Blue Diamond Growers; and
• Third Vice Chair Donna L. Lucas, chief executive officer and president, Lucas Public Affairs.
Terry MacRae
In 1980, MacRae purchased Hornblower Tours, a two-yacht charter company in Berkeley. Under MacRae’s ownership, Hornblower has expanded to become the largest dining and charter cruise company in North America with more than 70 sightseeing and dinner cruise boats operating in nearly a dozen cities.
MacRae began his career as an environmental engineer with Industrial Clean Air, Inc. He was a senior vice president and vice president of sales following the acquisition of Industrial Clean Air by Ecolaire Systems, Inc.
MacRae is the former vice chairman of the California Travel & Tourism Commission and continues to serve as a commissioner. He is a past president of the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) and current member of the joint U.S Coast Guard/PVA Partnership Action Team. He also has served as a board member of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau and is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.
He received his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) at San Luis Obispo.
Executive Committee
The CalChamber Executive Committee also named three members of the CalChamber Board as at-large members of the Executive Committee. Serving in the rotating position for 2018 will be:
• Gregory S. Bielli, president and chief executive officer, Tejon Ranch Company;
• Kailesh Karavadra, West Growth Markets Leader, EY; and
• Jeffrey Walker Martin, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Sempra Energy.
In addition to the at-large members and current officers, the Executive Committee typically includes the last three chairs of the CalChamber Board. The Executive Committee works with top CalChamber management to determine policy, financial and program direction, including, when necessary, providing policy guidance between the regular quarterly meetings of the CalChamber Board.
