Chip Rogers

William "Chip" Rogers (born May 3, 1968) is the former President and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association and past President and CEO of Asian American Hotel Owners Association, the largest hotel owners association in the United States.

Rogers is a former American politician from the state of Georgia.

Rogers graduated from North Gwinnett High School in 1986 and from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science Degree and a certificate in Economics in 1991.

He then attended the Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business, graduating with an MBA.

Chip Rogers founded Rogers Broadcasting in the early 1990s, which later became Rogers Communications.

The company held interests in a radio station and real estate.

During the 1990s Rogers worked for a number of metro Atlanta radio stations including as an anchor for WBHF.

Rogers purchased radio station WYXC, located in the Atlanta suburb of Cartersville, GA, in 1999.

He is a Republican and was first elected in 2002 to the Georgia House of Representatives, in 2004 he was elected to the Georgia State Senate.

Rogers first ran for office in 2002, winning a majority of the votes in a four-person primary for an open seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.

The seat represented the citizens in the southwest corner of Cherokee County that encompasses Woodstock, Towne Lake, and parts of Acworth.

After two years in the State House, Rogers ran to replace State Senator Robert Lamutt, who had decided to run for an open Congressional seat vacated by then Congressman Johnny Isakson.

Rogers routed the early front runner and lawyer Craig Dowdy in the Republican primary, taking 81% of the vote.

During one of Rogers' campaigns for the legislature, two teenage campaign workers stole signs of his opponent.

Rogers stated he supported the plan after he alleged dozens of his own signs had been stolen, but added he had told his campaign manager not to proceed with any such plan.

Rogers was a leading voice for education reform and school choice.

He was the Senate sponsor of the Constitutional Amendment to create public charter schools.

He owned and operated the radio station for six years, selling WYXC to Clarion Communications in 2005.

In September 2007, Senator Rogers was chosen as Executive Director and Communications Director for the Fred Thompson for U.S. President campaign in Georgia.

A November 2007 poll among Republican primary voters in Georgia showed Thompson with a large lead over his G.O.P. primary candidates.

Rogers secured endorsements for Thompson from 58 fellow Republican legislators, more than all other G.O.P. candidates at the time.

Rogers was elected Senate Majority Leader in 2008 and again in 2010.

In November 2012 Rogers resigned his position as Senate Majority Leader, and in December, he resigned his position in the state Senate.

He took up the position of host and Executive Producer of the statewide Georgia Public Broadcasting radio program Georgia Works.

After being fired from that position, he became the President of AAHOA.

Rogers acquired sole ownership of Clarion Communications in December 2012 and immediately entered into a lease management agreement with Newstalk corporation to operate WYXC.

Before entering politics, Rogers appeared in infomercials for a sports handicapping service, portraying “Will 'The Winner' Rogers”.

They promoted a "pay-per-call number" to receive football predictions.

Rogers said the media stories on the topic were "gutter politics", that the work was scripted, and that he was not a sports handicapper.

Rogers was also involved in a civil suit and counter suit with Bartow County Bank over a loan on the Oglethorpe Inn, after Rogers and his partner sold the hotel, but remained as guarantors for the loan.

The matter was settled out of court.

The Constitutional Amendment Rogers sponsored was approved by Georgia voters on November 6, 2012.

Senator Rogers authored the Grade Integrity Act aimed at protecting the classroom teacher's authority to give students the grade they actually earned.

The law prevents school personnel from changing a grade given by the classroom teacher unless such grade was given in conflict with school policy.

Rogers also helped make Georgia a national leader in K-12 digital learning.

He authored the Digital Learning Act and was the Senate sponsor of the Online Clearinghouse Act.

Both measures, which were signed into law, are aimed at expanding digital learning options and offerings for Georgia students.

Rogers helped pass legislation aimed at preventing identity theft.

He authored the Georgia Personal Identity Protection Act which requires government agencies to provide notice to their customers upon a breach of a security system and a loss of electronic data including personal information.

Rogers also authored the Georgia Credit Protection Act which would allow Georgia residents the opportunity to freeze their personal credit in order to prevent identity theft.