Otis Rawl has been promoted to president and CEO of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, effective October 1, 2008. Rawl succeeds S. Hunter Howard Jr., who spent 17 years building the South Carolina Chamber into one of the state's most powerful and successful advocacy groups.

Rawl joined the South Carolina Chamber in 2001 as vice president of public policy. In 2004, he was named chief operating officer, and has been in charge of the Chamber's overall operations including public policy, legislative affairs, work force development, administration, membership, and communications.

Prior to joining the S.C. Chamber, Rawl worked with the S.C. Department of Revenue for 23 years. He retired on November 30, 2001 as the deputy director for revenue and regulatory operations. In addition to his work at the Department of Revenue, Rawl served a six- month term with the S.C. State Treasurer performing legislative work on several major tax bills and local reporting of debt limits. Also, the Governor of S.C. appointed him as chief of staff of the Department of Public Safety in 1995.

A native of Lexington, Rawl graduated from USC with a BA degree from the School of Government and International Studies in public administration and minors in English and history.