Thursday, October 1, 2026
Ben Jackson, who guided the Freeport Chamber of Commerce through the pandemic as its president, was re-elected during the fall of 2025 to the leadership position once again and will serve up to two more years beginning this month. Jackson previously stepped up to the presidency role in mid-2020 without an election due to the pandemic and was re-elected during the spring of 2021 to serve another two years.
Jackson and the chamber faced unique challenges during his first stint as president, as Freeport businesses sought ways to recover economically after Covid-19 shut down much of commerce worldwide. Under Jackson and his successor, Ken Dookram, the group has increased its membership by 25 percent and revenue by 30 percent in addition to helping many local businesses recover financially.
The chamber is tasked with working with village leadership to strengthen local businesses and the community’s economic growth.
Jackson credited the chamber’s board of directors and the support from Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy for the success the business group has achieved thus far.
A major goal for Jackson during his second tenure as president is to increase the chamber’s membership to further its impact on the community.
“I would like to get people more involved,” Jackson, 64, said. “We’re trying to make it so it’s more worthwhile to join the chamber. So we have to provide a return on your investment.”
In addition to his role as chamber president, Jackson has been part of the business group for more than 20 years, having served on its board of directors for nearly half of that time.
A lifelong resident of Freeport and alumnus of Freeport High School, Jackson has invested in Long Island commerce for more than 40 years as the owner of Ben’s General Contracting Corporation, based in Freeport. During Dookram’s leadership, Jackson continued to participate in chamber events and meetings, which benefited the community.
Dookram shared that the chamber’s events during the past two years have been among the organization's greatest triumphs.
“The chamber has started looking to do some additional things for an event for members of our chamber on the [Nautical] Mile,” Dookram said. “… We’ve been able to continue to do everything that we’ve done in the past, and it’s been a good experience from my perspective.”
Dookram promised to continue working with the chamber and Jackson to meet his goals of increasing membership and emphasizing the value of membership.
Jackson said he wants to encourage other Freeport residents and business owners to serve on event committees and become members of the board of directors so they can share their opinions and have a say in what business the chamber conducts.
Jackson also expressed hopes of strengthening lines of communication between the mayor and chamber members when addressing matters of Village commerce. In addition, Jackson said he hopes to foster greater unity between North and South Freeport and ensure that Latino business owners and residents of the village understand they are more than welcome to join the chamber and have a voice in Freeport matters.
“I’m personally going to businesses in North Freeport, and some of them have joined, some of them haven’t,” Jackson explained. “There’s a language barrier, which is difficult. You know, how can they come to a meeting if they don’t understand what people are saying? So, it’s been a difficult challenge, but it is something I’m very interested in. A lot of people feel like the chamber is only the Nautical Mile, and there’s so much more to Freeport than that.”
Jackson will serve a minimum of one year as president and expressed a willingness to hand the post over next year to a worthy candidate chosen by the board of directors. In the meantime, Jackson said he’s ready to continue serving all of Freeport to the best of his abilities.
