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38Her knack of knowing %u201chow to get things done%u201d is what Burnadette Norris-Weeks expects to rely on as she takes the role of Chair of the Board of Directors of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce for 2024.As a Fort Lauderdale attorney with a practice in governmental law for more than three decades, Norris-Weeks says she understands how things move through local government entities, including how they are budgeted through funding cycles, who to speak with about specific issues and how to be heard.The firm practices in the areas of governmental law, personal injury, real estate and corporate law, with Norris-Weeks leading the governmental practice area for the firm. The firm currently represents several municipalities throughout the tricounty area. Norris-Weeks represented the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office for more than 16 years, and still performs legal work for other constitutional officers. %u201cMy work as a city attorney for various municipalities allows me to stay current and in touch with the business community and what happens locally,%u201d she said. %u201cI also represent what I believe is the majority of the type of businesses involved with the Chamber. Businesses with less than 500 people make up 98 percent of businesses within the county.%u201dBefore relocating to South Florida in the mid-1990s, she practiced law for a private firm in Tallahassee for five years and also worked for the Florida Legislature as an attorney. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University.She married her husband, Aaron Weeks, after relocating to South Florida from Tallahassee, where the two met. He also works in a political environment in Miami-Dade County.Norris-Weeks is a life-long Floridian, born in Rockledge, Florida and growing up first in Brevard Court before relocating to Tampa, where she graduated high school and earned a bachelor%u2019s degree from the University of South Florida. Watching the rollercoaster economic prospects of Brevard County and the Space Coast, she recognizes the importance of jobs to a community%u2019s ongoing economic success.%u201cThere was a boom there with the Kennedy Space Center in the %u201860s and %u201870s, and then when government money was Special FeatureGetting ThingsNew Chamber ChairDoneBy Gary Bitner