Chamber of Commerce executive throws hat into citywide Columbus Council race

A Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce executive has thrown her name into the race for one of the two citywide council seats.

Amy Bryan, the executive vice president for community development and growth, qualified Friday morning for the District 10 seat that was vacated by Skip Henderson, who is running for mayor. Bryan, 33, will face two retired Army officers, Tollie Strode and John House, to fill the final two-plus years of Henderson’s term. The election is May 22.

Bryan is seeking the political office with the approval of the Chamber of Commerce and its board. She will remain in her chamber job during the campaign, she said.

“I have the blessing of the chamber leadership team and the chamber executive committee has signed off on this,” she said Friday morning before qualifying. “We have checked the bylaws, employment agreements and run this through legal.”

Chamber President Brian Anderson, who was chairman of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners from 2005-2009 before taking the Columbus chamber post, talked with Bryan on Thursday.

“She is doing this with chamber approval because the chamber does not back candidates,” Anderson said Friday morning.

Anderson said that Bryan was a “key leader” on the chamber’s executive team. There is a distinction in Bryan running for the open seat and not against an incumbent, Anderson said.

“She is not running against the other two candidates,” Anderson said. “She is running for a seat that is empty right now. She is running for the office.”

Bryan is a Hardaway High School graduate and 2008 graduate of Georgia Southern University with a degree in public relations and said her youth is one of the reasons she is seeking the office. She has been heavily involved with the chamber’s Young Professionals group.

“As young professionals, we have been saying it is time to step up,” Bryan said. “We want more young people doing things like this.”

The fact that a young professional is stepping into the political arena presented Anderson and the chamber board with an interesting dilemma as they were working through the policies on her running for the office. The chamber bylaws do not restrict employees from running for public office, but they can’t hold a leadership position such as mayor or chairman of the school board, Anderson said.

“We have been encouraging our young professionals to seek office and step up,” Anderson said. “What would we be saying if we stopped her?”

Bryan is married to Hunter Bryan, who owns a Maaco franchise, a automobile paint and body shop on Fifth Avenue, and they have a 2-year-old daughter.

This story was originally published March 9, 2018 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Chamber of Commerce executive throws hat into citywide Columbus Council race."