David Gregory, White House correspondent for NBC News, will be the keynote speaker at The Business Council's Annual State Chamber Dinner Monday, May 10, at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany.

Gregory has been a correspondent with NBC News since 1995, reporting for all the news divisions' broadcasts. He has also served as an anchor for MSNBC.

The Business Council conducts this event each year to salute the state's local and regional chambers of commerce for their efforts to improve the state's business community and to promote growth and prosperity in their own regions.

The Council's Annual Dinner tradition dates back to the old Empire State Chamber of Commerce, which began the event as a way for the statewide chamber of commerce to recognize the efforts of local and regional chambers of commerce to improve New York's business climate.

The Empire State Chamber merged with the former Associated Industries in 1980 to form The Business Council. Since then, The Council has continued the tradition.

The Business Council's connections with local and regional chambers is stronger than ever. For example, the Chamber Alliance of New York State (CANYS), a strong voice for New York's chambers, is affiliated with, and administered by, The Business Council. CANYS is an association of chamber executives from New York's local and regional chambers of commerce committed to providing professional development opportunities for member executives and leveraging the power of chambers to promote state-government policies that will improve New York's business climate.

For example, in recent months, CANYS and dozens of its members have been participating actively in The Council's ongoing electronic advocacy campaign to promote workers' comp reform in New York State and to thank Governor Pataki for his leadership in advancing an aggressive proposal to reform the comp program and increase benefits. This campaign allows visitors to The Business Council's Web site, www.bcnys.org, and to the Web sites of participating chambers, to automatically generate letters to the Governor and elected officials to reinforce this message.

Many other chambers, as well as other business associations around the state, have been actively promoting this campaign by directing their constituents to The Business Council's home page.

Inner Circle tables are available at $3,000 per table; sponsor tables are available at $2,000. Individual tickets cost $100 for chamber staff and $200 for all others. The dinner and program will begin at 7 p.m. in the Convention Center.