The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce (NACC) and Middle Tennessee State University-based Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) announced March 23 they are collaborating to produce an unprecedented series of quarterly Business Confidence Index (BCI) reports that are expected to reflect the "confidence and sentiment" of 1,200 or more business leaders centered in a 10-county region.
The inaugural quarterly report is projected to surface during springtime 2Q 2026. Survey participants will be provided access to findings prior to the public release of BCI results.
In a March 23 press release, Chamber President & CEO Stephanie Pepper Coleman MBA MA said the new index "will give us 'real-time' feedback on how employers are feeling about the local economy and allow us to identify the region’s most pressing needs. These insights will help guide our work with business leaders, policymakers, and community partners to ensure Middle Tennessee continues to thrive."
In the same release, Murat Arik PhD, director of MTSU BERC, emphasized, "Our aim is to deliver practical information that business owners, planners, and public officials can immediately apply," thereby helping to strengthen the region's resilience and competitiveness.
Yesterday's release noted that the BCI "business sentiment" index will provide data "comparable to national benchmarks, such as the Conference Board's Measure of CEO Confidence Index™."
VNC notes, however, that the Conference Board's Measure of CEO Confidence™ -- which is executed in collaboration with Washington, D.C.-based The Business Council--reports solely the sentiments provided by chief executive officers.
In contrast, the Chamber-BERC index seeks input from multiple strata of "executive leaders," including chief executive officers, chief financial officers, business owners and others.
A total 142 CEOs participated in the Conference Board's Q1 2026 survey, which yielded some upbeat results when announced Feb. 26--just two days before U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran began.
Release of the Conference Board's next CEO confidence results is set for May 28. The Board's somewhat complementary Consumer Confidence Index® release is set for March 31.
When asked by VNC about the disparate roles of respondents to the Conference Board CEO Confidence survey in comparison to the more diverse roles of respondents to the Nashville Chamber-BERC survey, a Nashville Chamber spokesperson pointed-out that the Chamber-BERC survey is "not designed to augment or add to" any national survey.
"We are simply taking national research initiatives as examples and modeling ours specifically to the local level of our regional community," the spokesperson added.
Among other ponderables, VNC has not yet determined whether or not the new BCI report will in its analysis differentiate responses from executives who are associated with for-profit, not-for-profit, B-corp and-or "for-profit benefit corporations" (FPBC).
The counties listed as represented in the quarterly BERC analysis are Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson.
Nine of those 10 counties lie within the more populous 13-county Mid-TN area that during 2023-24 generated a large share of the state's economic dynamism, as VNC reported here.
Distribution of MTSU BERC's new BCI survey will be in the hands of Provo, Utah-based Qualtrics LLC to support distribution of the survey each quarter.
Generally, the market seems to place high value on opportunities to use data and other assets to increase and improve member and customer loyalty, employee engagement and business success.
Evidence of that: Aforementioned Qualtrics was an early entrant into the experience-management sector. Since its inception, it had raised north of $3BN capital prior to its recent acquisition of Press Ganey Forsta for $6.75BN.
That Qualtrics' transaction was supported by debt commitments via JPMorgan Chase Bank, BMO Capital Markets, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, KKR Capital Markets, Mizuho Securities, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Investment Bank, Wells Fargo, and-or affiliates thereof.
The Chamber and MTSU have long-standing ties. For example, a year ago both the Chamber's Coleman and MTSU BERC's Arik participated in MTSU's Forum on Growth & Regional Challenges.
The BERC is domeciled within MTSU's Jennings A. Jones College of Business, which is led by Dean Joyce Thompson Heames PhD MBA.
The first fruits of the new Business Confidence Index are likely to land amid a steady stream of other Chamber and MTSU engagement, research, economic development, educational and related efforts.
For example, this year the Chamber's 33rd Annual Leadership Study Mission is targeting tourism-blessed Miami, April 27-29.
Note: As required in the academic-research setting, the MTSU Institutional Review Board determined BERC's research design "complies with established regulatory, policy, and ethical standards designed to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in such studies." VNC
. last edited 1530 24 March 2026