By Ravitej Singh Khalsa

EUGENE, OREGON. On Wednesday, January 24th, 2007, Kartar Singh Khalsa, CEO of Golden Temple Inc (www.goldentemple.com) and a driving force for Sikh Dharma International, was installed as the chairperson for the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce. It was a gala evening at the annual "Celebration of Business" attended by over 700 leaders of the business community. Kartar Singh is possibly the only Sikh to become an American Chamber of Commerce Chair. The national association of Chambers of Commerce told Dave Hauser, long time Eugene Chamber President, that they applauded the event, and said they felt the selection of a Sikh for the chairmanship was inspiring and significant.

Kartar Singh's acceptance speech was full of hope and consciousness. It highlighted how businesses can prosper in peace and work for each other, in the spirit of service. President Dave Hauser reported many calls to his office after the Celebration with very positive comments on Kartar's speech. One bank even asked for transcripts to use in a motivational seminar for its employees. Hauser forwarded the following message received from Jim Torrey, former Eugene mayor, chamber chair and a Christian leader in the community:

"Kartar: I just wanted to let you know that your presentation last night was outstanding. It was the finest speech of this type that I have had the privilege to hear in my years of involvement with the Eugene Chamber. You set the perfect tone for the next year. Please let me know if I can assist you in any way. Respectfully, Jim. - P.S. Others have said the same in my discussions today."

The MC and outgoing chair, Jeff Miller is on the board of Northwest Christian College. He, too expressed his appreciation of Kartar Singh's remarks.

Excerpts of Remarks to the Eugene, Oregon Chamber of Commerce
By Incoming Chair: Kartar Singh Khalsa, CEO of Golden Temple Inc.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, business community of Eugene, elected officials and all our friends. Welcome. Tonight we pause and take time to be all together to celebrate business. We celebrate business for its power. For its power to bring change and make a positive difference. We are here tonight to remember what good things business has brought in the past year but more so to celebrate the opportunities that business has in the new year 2007 and in the future of Eugene.

To me, business has the power to bring peace, prosperity, happiness and sustainability to the world. Business here in Eugene has the power to do that for all of us and all of our community. My friend John Mackey CEO of Whole Foods has started an organization committed to that premise, to the mission that through entrepreneurship peace, prosperity, happiness and sustainability can be brought to the world. Another friend, a long time business consultant on leadership, who has worked with Fortune 500 companies says, I love business and organizations because to me they have the power to heal the planet.

This all comes when business acts to serve. I was raised with the idea that the purpose of life was to serve, to be a giver. In order to give you have to have something to give. Business is a vehicle to do that. There is a quote from an old east Indian poet, Tagore, that goes, "I dreamt that life was joy. I awoke to find that life was service. I acted and beheld that service was joy."

Tonight we celebrate business because of its power to serve and in that service to bring joy. In business we serve our self and we serve others. We serve community. First we serve the community of our own business, our employees. Business has the power to make their lives better and fulfilled. We also serve the whole community. Through business we can and do make our community a better place to live. A better place for all.

Business has the power and opportunity to be socially conscious, to be socially responsible. When businesses start out they are necessarily first concerned with self-interest, with survival. As a business progresses, it can operate more from the heart; in the sense of wanting to do good for its employees, its customers and for its community. The ultimate level of business is that of service to society. Social responsibility is good for business. It is an investment with a good return. It is good for profitability. Look around us these days: Dow Chemical is developing technologies to provide low cost housing and drinkable water to the poor of the world, Coke ads talk of spreading love over the world, and our own NW company Costco dedicates all its profit from a Paul Newman product to support underprivileged kids.

When we serve our employees better they want to serve the business better with better products and services. When we serve our community better they want to support us to have more success. It becomes a positive spiral where doing well financially that leads to doing good in our communities brings greater success and greater capacity to do good in the world.

In 2005 our mayor had a vision and acted on it with the Sustainable Business Initiative here in Eugene. After 18 months of a lot of hard work lead by 2 of our members David Funk our former board member and Rusty Rexius our former chair, we had the City Council support our recommendations. This included the establishment of the Office of Sustainability to help ensure what was on paper could become reality. Sustainability is not a bad word. Actually we all want sustainability. We all want our businesses to be successful for a long time. This is nothing new. But now there is an opportunity for Oregon and for Eugene in particular to be a leader in sustainability. Not only in the practice of sustainability but in the business of sustainability.

Sustainability to me is just a mature adult response to the condition of our world today. As adults and as parents we want our children to have what they need for a good and safe future. We feel responsible to deliver that to our children. Sustainable business is simply that. It is taking the responsibility to deliver a future that is livable for the next generations. Business has the power to do that. To deliver a future that is better not just for a few but for all. We as the Eugene Business Community have the power to deliver a better future for our children and all of our community.

Let us lead with the will to make our community economically sustainable for the future and a better place to live for all of us. Let us lead with the will to make it happen. So that the phrase "Only in Eugene" describes what a great place we have to live in. I don't know about the greatest city of the arts and outdoors but I do know Eugene could be the greatest place to raise a family and experience community life at its fullest.

Let us, in the immortal words of Nike, "Just Do It!"

Celebrate business everyday. Do it from the heart and bring joy to ourselves and others.

Best wishes to all of us for a powerful, prosperous and peaceful 2007.