Last May, Joplin, Mo. was hit by a devastating tornado which left a 10-mile-long path of destruction. More than 500 businesses were destroyed or substantially damaged. In a recent interview with Southeast Missouri’s Business Today, Rob O'Brian, president of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, says that "most were prepared for typical Midwest storm damage, but not for a tornado of that magnitude."

Today, nine months later, with about 85 percent of Joplin’s businesses open and operating, Rob O’Brian and Nathan Brown, insurance producer at W.E. Walker-Lakenan, LLC in Jackson, Mo., spoke with Business Today and shared disaster preparedness tips for businesses. From recovery insurance advice to data back-up suggestions,the article provides good information for your members.

Tags: ec, economic development, Friday Links

Tags: chairman, economic development, EDC Division

The award recognizes organizational excellence in chambers of commerce and is based on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s accreditation process for local chambers. It highlights accomplishments in the areas of leadership/governance, finance, advocacy and membership development.

“This recognition is further testament to the influential work of The Chamber,” said Jeff Rea, president and CEO of The Chamber. “Although we are membership-based with more than 1,100 member businesses representing 90,000 employees, our strategic vision focuses on issues and initiatives that positively impact the area economy. We represent the interests of business, providing leadership and influence to move our community forward,” said Rea. “This recognition means we are doing the right things and people are paying attention.”

So what's next for Jim? During his retirement he plans to work as a consultant part time in the areas of his greatest interest—strategic planning, sustainable development and fund-raising.
 
In his eight years with the chamber, he has made a tremendous impact and will leave behind quite a number of accomplishments. Constructing Waco’s “first green chamber building in America” has been one of the most visible accomplishments of his time at the Chamber, but he indentified many other successes by the chamber, its volunteer leadership, staff and public and private sector partners, including:

• Attracting 20 new companies and 40 expansions by existing firms; 5,314 new jobs, 3,190 jobs retained and $740 million capital invested in projects assisted by the chamber’s economic development staff;

• Developing and implementing a master plan for the Waco Industrial Foundation business parks including $6.8 million invested in new infrastructure and $6 million to acquire additional property to accommodate development.

• Making urban development a chamber and community priority; projecting a billion dollar decade downtown; defining Greater Downtown and making the case for a 40-year plan and 100,000 people living and working downtown; and advocating for smart growth and sustainable development.

• Advocating for official standing in the permitting process for coal-fired electric generating plants in Greater Waco that contributed to TXU’s decision not to build the plants.

• Establishing the Community Development division to engage members and staff in education, workforce and a range of quality of life initiatives.

• Matching 40 business mentors with 115 Waco Independent School District students during five years, and all of the seniors in this program have graduated and gone to college.

• Reviving the One Book One Waco community-wide reading program and supporting a variety of efforts to reduce poverty and hunger here.

• Growing the sports luncheon series to average 1,100 in attendance at each event; starting the TriWaco triathlon which attracted more than 900 runners in 2011; and increasing participation in the Starburst Junior Golf Classic to 1000 boys and girls annually on nine courses.

• Starting a quarterly magazine, weekly electronic newsletter, monthly television program and eight websites to promote chamber programs and to help change perceptions about Greater Waco.

• Increasing the Chamber’s annual budget from $1.5 million in 2004 to $3.3 million in 2012; enlarging the organization’s professional staff from 13 to 21; and raising $5.9 million for annual operations in seven all-volunteer Total Resource Campaigns.

The Chamber has formed a search committee to begin a nationwide search for a new president and CEO of the chamber.

An article in this week’s Time highlights the emergence of Austin, Texas as one of the nation’s premier alternative energy and clean tech hubs. While the author plays up the political angle in this story – green tech in a red state – I read a shining example of smart economic development. Austin’s clean tech story is a lesson is effective cluster strategy, public private partnership, talented workforce, strong community and building off existing assets.  Here are key excerpts:

For Austin, high tech had to come before clean tech. The city has long been a science-and-technology hub, thanks to the presence of the sprawling main campus of the University of Texas, with a student body of 50,000. In the mid-1980s one of those students was Michael Dell, who founded his eponymous computer company in a University of Texas dorm room before moving Dell to a sprawling campus north of Austin. Around the same time, the federal government and U.S. semi-conductor manufacturers launched a research consortium — based in Austin — called Sematech, pooling public and private investment to compete with Japan, which was threatening to dominate the semiconductor industry.

Sematech and Dell helped create a high-tech boom in Austin through the 1990s, luring tens of thousands of talented engineers who came for the jobs and stayed for the Austin lifestyle … So as clean tech began to heat up in the early part of the past decade, Austin was a logical place for start-ups and entrepreneurs to set up shop. An experienced technical workforce was already available, ready to shift from manufacturing computer chips to building solar panels.

"We like the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and there's just a ton of talent here that you can't get in Illinois," says Joe Scarci, SolarBridge's vice president of marketing. "It's a great place to recruit."

Read the full article here.

Of course, none of this is news to the economic development team at the Austin Chamber of Commerce.  Clean energy is one of their focus industry segments.  They know that growth in the clean tech cluster is as much about smart strategy as good luck.  And they’ve been getting good press coverage about this for years.  Check out all the great info on their Clean Energy webpage, pay special attention to the Pecan Street Project.

Tags: alternative energy, clean tech, cluster strategy, economic development, green tech, public private partnership, talented workforce

Despite controversy over Chrysler ads and middle fingers, the Super Bowl was a resounding success. The game was close, the weather was good, and viewership set records.  Indianapolis can be proud of their first time hosting the big game. With all the football coverage, you may have missed some other important news coming out of Indiana last week:

Battle Won in Indiana

It took Governor Mitch Daniels barely two hours last Wednesday to sign Right-to-Work legislation into law. In doing so, he makes Indiana the first state in more than 10 years, and the first state ever in the industrial Midwest to make union dues optional for workers in union jobs. Mike Landram and the Fort Wayne Chamber were strong proponents of the bill, making multiple trips to testify at the capital and rallying grassroots support. In addition to an online petition, they compiled a great Right-to-Works facts page on their website: http://www.fwchamber.org/get-heard/right-to-work

Tags: Fort Wayne Chamber, Indiana, right-to-work, Super Bowl

ACCE's newest official corporate sponsor and partner is Infintech, a chamber-friendly, debit and credit card processing company that can save the average chamber 40% on its credit card processing costs. Here are some interesting facts about this new member of the ACCE family:

• CEO Ryan Rybolt had his first job as an intern with one of the greats in the chamber field, John Williams, who headed the Cincinnati chamber for many years.
• More than 80 chambers & associations have already embraced this company and are finding considerable success with it.
• The Infintech program will permit chambers to earn sizeable amounts of non-dues revenue as their members use Infintech for their credit card processing needs.
• Infintech is in the top 1 percent of its industry in customer satisfaction levels.

Contact Ryan and his team to find out more at (513) 395-9495 or send an email.

January was a big month for one chamber president.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel proclaimed Jan. 25 as Jerry Roper Day in Chicago. But it didn’t stop there.

Later that evening, Jerry Roper, the Chicagoland Chamber’s president and CEO, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant support and dedication as a founding member of Chicago Gateway Green. The organization is devoted to greening and beautifying Chicago’s expressways, gateways and neighborhoods. In celebration of his service as the organization’s chairman for a decade and for his contributions to Chicago Gateway Green over the past 25 years, an expressway garden at the Kennedy/Edens Expressways Junction was named the "Gerald J. Roper Gateway."

Roper was honored for his extensive civic involvement throughout Chicagoland, as well as his contributions to the region's leading business and entrepreneurial communities. As the president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce for 18 years, Roper has been a spirited leader and advocate for small businesses and entrepreneurs in Illinois. During that time, the chamber earned 5-star accreditation from the U. S. Chamber of Commerce for its sound policies, effective organizational procedures, and positive impact on the region’s business climate.

Click here to see a video montage of Jerry Roper played at the event. Click here to see a video tribute from Mayor Daley.

A state constitutional amendment to protect private property rights is one step closer to earning a spot on November’s ballot.

Last week, the Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted 13-2 in favor of SJ 3 and sent the bill to the full Senate. The legislation tightens the definition of public use and requires just compensation for owners whose property has been taken using eminent domain.

The Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership, a joint effort of the Dulles Regional, Greater Reston and Loudoun County chambers, argues in a press release that the suggested restrictions could crush efforts by local jurisdictions to extend their infrastructure – water, sewer, gas lines and roads – to support economic development initiatives.

The bills before the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates would restrict the use of eminent domain to public uses. They all use basically the same language: “That the General Assembly shall pass no law whereby private property, the right to which is fundamental, shall be damaged or taken except for public use.”

The chamber partnership “supports responsible use of eminent domain in instances where the rights of property owners are balanced with the rights of entities with existing eminent domain authority.”

“In the current unprecedented economic climate, Virginia can ill afford to negatively impact its competitiveness with other states in attracting economic development that could provide much needed jobs for Virginia residents,” Mark Ingrao, president of the Greater Reston Chamber, said in the release.

For more information:
BizJournals.com: Northern Virginia Chambers Oppose Eminent Domain Bill
Smith Mountain Eagle: Va. Eminent Domain Legislation Clears another Hurdle

Tags: eminent domain, land use