MICHAEL CHAMBERS
Co-Owner and President, Central Business Systems
Michael Chambers, co-owner and president of Central Business Systems, has a proven track record of driving strong sales, growth and personalized service in the technology industry. Chambers is an accomplished office technology leader with over 35 years of industry experience. His responsibilities include setting the tone, vision and leadership of the company while developing strategies, plans for growth, new initiatives and long-term business plans.
Since he was named president in 2001, Chambers and his team have facilitated over 800% growth of the company while garnering many awards and accolades. The company was named a Business Achievement Award Finalist by HIA-LI and a Fastest Growing Private Company on Long Island by KPMG, Hofstra University and Long Island Business News. Central was also named to the Top 100 Office Servicing Organizations in the U.S. by Pros Elite Group, and the company received a National Dealer of Excellence Award from Sharp, an Outstanding Partner Award from Canon USA and a Platinum Partner Award from Xerox. In addition, SmartCEO presented Chambers and co-owner Sean Infante with a Corporate Culture Award, a Family Business Award and a Future 50 Award.
Chambers is a former student athlete at Dowling College and has earned his NSCAA National Soccer Training license. He has coached and mentored student athletes for over 20 years, assisting in their development and recruitment to various colleges at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels.
He prides himself on giving back to the community and was recently honored for his philanthropic work by SCO Family of Services, which presented him with the Shepherd’s Award, as well as Family Service League, which presented him with the Corporate Leadership Award.
He believes leadership means never getting complacent, stating, “You can’t lead some of the time; you must lead all the time. You must be a life learner; you must pivot and lead before you’re expected to pivot, and you must find ways to get better as a company and lead in that direction.”
He continues: “There’s always change in forward-minded organizations, but employees aren’t mind readers. If you give them continual understanding as to why there are changes and what the big picture is, you can get them to buy in and give them purpose and motivation. Keep the message to your employees very clear and simple, and support them.”
Chambers warns those starting out, “If you don’t evolve, stay ahead of the technology curve and be fanatical about taking care of your customers, someone else will.”
He notes that today’s customers are looking more and more to consolidate their vendors. “They are asking for the expertise, economies, and efficiencies of a single-source provider of business technology, equipment, IT, cyber security, VOIP and Unified Communications, and we listened.”
Copyright (c) 2023 Long Island Business News, Edition 5/12/2023