MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile Chamber has hired Ellis G. Foster Jr., a Mobile real estate broker and economic development official who most recently worked for the Downtown Mobile Alliance, as its new director of government affairs. In the role, Foster will help carry the chamber’s advocacy agenda on behalf of its nearly 1,600 member businesses and represent the Mobile business community in Montgomery during legislative sessions.
Foster will also coordinate the chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee, the group of members that helps shape the organization’s positions on state and local policy.
From downtown development to the State House
Foster comes to the chamber from the Downtown Mobile Alliance, where he has served as director of economic development since January. In that job, he led developer recruitment, stakeholder engagement and grant management for the organization that promotes and manages downtown Mobile’s business district.
Before joining the alliance, Foster served as a senior advisor to U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, the Democrat who represents Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District.
His move to the chamber staff means he will step down from two volunteer posts tied to Mobile’s economic development efforts:
- Mobile Chamber board of directors: Foster has served on the chamber’s board since 2024.
- Industrial Development Board: Since 2021, Foster has served on the board, where he has supported major expansions and projects including Austal USA, Airbus, Brookley by the Bay and the Gulf Distributing Co. headquarters project.
Rail, real estate and military service
Foster is a governor-appointed commissioner on the Southern Rail Commission, and he served as the 2024 governmental affairs chair for the Mobile Association of Realtors. He has been a licensed real estate broker since 2019.
He also served eight years in the U.S. Army National Guard as an ammunition specialist.
Foster is a 2022 graduate of Leadership Alabama’s Alabama Leadership Initiative and holds a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning, with a focus in construction management, from Alabama A&M University.
Ellis G. Foster Jr. at a glance
- New role: Director of government affairs, Mobile Chamber
- Previous role: Director of economic development, Downtown Mobile Alliance (since January)
- Earlier: Senior advisor to U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures
- Boards: Mobile Chamber board (since 2024) and Industrial Development Board (since 2021), both of which he is leaving
- Appointments: Commissioner, Southern Rail Commission
- Real estate: Licensed broker since 2019; 2024 governmental affairs chair, Mobile Association of Realtors
- Military: Eight years in the U.S. Army National Guard as an ammunition specialist
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning, Alabama A&M University; 2022 graduate, Alabama Leadership Initiative
What a chamber government affairs director does
Chambers of commerce represent the interests of their member businesses before elected officials. A government affairs director tracks legislation and regulations that could affect those businesses, helps members develop positions on issues, and meets with lawmakers and their staffs to make the business community’s case.
For the Mobile Chamber, much of that work centers on the Alabama Legislature. During the annual legislative session in Montgomery, lawmakers take up bills on taxes, economic development incentives, infrastructure, workforce training, education and local matters that can directly affect employers in Mobile and Baldwin counties. A chamber’s government affairs staff often spends much of the session at the State House, monitoring committee meetings and floor debates.
Chambers also typically publish a legislative agenda listing their priorities before each session, and their governmental affairs committees, made up of members from different industries, help set those priorities. Foster’s role coordinating that committee places him at the center of the process.
Alabama’s next regular legislative session will be the first after the Nov. 3 general election, when voters will choose a new governor along with every seat in the Legislature.
About the Mobile Chamber
The Mobile Chamber traces its roots to 1836, when the Mobile Commerce and Business League was incorporated. The Alabama Legislature chartered the organization in 1854, and the chamber describes itself as the first commerce organization in the state. It has operated under several names, including the Mobile Board of Trade, and reincorporated as the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce in 1960.
The chamber leads the Mobile area’s efforts to recruit new employers and help existing ones grow. In September, it earned the International Economic Development Council’s Accredited Economic Development Organization designation, making it the only economic development group in Alabama and one of 94 in the country to hold that accreditation. It has also earned the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Five Star Accreditation, the national organization’s highest designation for chambers.
The chamber is also preparing to honor Gov. Kay Ivey at its Forum Alabama luncheon on Nov. 10.
About the Southern Rail Commission
The Southern Rail Commission is an interstate rail compact made up of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Congress authorized the compact in 1982, and the three states’ legislatures approved it. Each member state’s governor appoints its commissioners.
The commission works with public and private rail interests to advance passenger and freight rail projects in the region. It was a longtime advocate for restoring passenger rail service along the Gulf Coast, a goal realized with Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service between Mobile and New Orleans. That train drew about 150,000 riders in its first year, far above the 38,000 projected, and generated more than $5 million in revenue.
About the Downtown Mobile Alliance
The Downtown Mobile Alliance is a nonprofit that works to promote, manage and develop Mobile’s downtown district. Its economic development work includes recruiting developers and businesses, connecting property owners with resources and pursuing grants for downtown projects. Downtown Mobile is in the midst of significant change, with a new arena, the proposed River Walk Plaza tower, a new commercial airport terminal at the Brookley Aeroplex and the start of construction on the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project.
The projects on his Industrial Development Board record
The projects Foster supported during his time on the Industrial Development Board include some of the Mobile area’s best-known economic development efforts:
- Austal USA builds ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard at its shipyard on the Mobile River.
- Airbus assembles commercial jetliners at its final assembly lines at the Brookley Aeroplex.
- Brookley by the Bay is a planned public waterfront park on Mobile Bay near Brookley, which recently received a $9 million federal grant through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act program.
- Gulf Distributing Co., a beverage distributor, has pursued a headquarters project in Mobile.
Local industrial development boards are public corporations that can issue bonds and grant certain tax abatements to encourage investment, which makes them a key part of how Alabama communities assemble incentive packages for new and expanding employers.
