Building our Next Gen Chamber: Big Vision, Big Goals

February 24, 2023

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A message from Vonnie Mikkelsen, President and CEO, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.
Delivered at the Chamber’s 73rd Annual Awards and Installation on February 9th, 2023,
at the Richard E. Wildish Theater in downtown Springfield.

The Chamber’s Vision 2030 centers on People, Place, and Purpose. Our strong financial position is a solid foundation on which to build a Chamber for the next generation.

We finished 2022 strong, having logged a whopping 94% loyalty rate, and welcomed 108 new members. Morale is high. So is our optimism. We are ready to anticipate and respond as your trusted source and dependable partner.

What can you look forward to in the months ahead:

We’ve teamed up with business and workforce partners to identify specific and pressing challenges of employers. This Spring, under the #WorkReady banner, we will offer a new management training workshop featuring curricula developed with Cascade Employers Association. The Essential Skills: Train the Trainers workshop will support companies of all sizes and sectors with their employee onboarding, retention, and recruitment; and with a grant from Lane Workforce Partnership, this workshop is offered at no cost to members.

We have built our Small Business Solutions HUB with time-savings, need-to-know, practical business education and resources in mind. Programs like “Why Hire a Contractor,” “How To Prepare for a Small Business Loan,” “How To Compete for Talent,” and “When To Call a Lawyer” are offered in hybrid formats regularly, and recorded content stored as micro-webinars on the HUB for convenient access any day, any time.

As an extension of the HUB and our membership services, we are strengthening partnerships like those with Huerto de la Familia to connect our non-English-as-a-first-language-speaking entrepreneurs with programs and connections of the Chamber community; and with the business and technical assistance network of the Contracting Alliance for Diversity and Equity (CADE) to support minority-owned businesses seeking to tap private and public contracting opportunities.

For years, our LunchVox series has brought forth thought-provoking subject matter and moved us to think more deeply about accelerating social, economic, and political forces driving change: What’s going on? Why? What can we expect and, most importantly, what can we do? These are questions addressed in a substantive body of research known as Foresight Works published by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). We zeroed in on compelling cases of “Foresight Strategy,” because anticipating with knowledge and awareness helps to build courage in the face of perplexing conditions and wisdom to guide decisions and actions. We will be rolling out new program and committee platforms that will broaden the Chamber’s reach and engagement with our next generation of changemakers.

Who can speak with credibility on real-world, local impacts and opportunities for commerce, jobs, economy, and workforce? If not you, then who?

“The Chamber’s advocacy role will remain a high priority because we passionately believe that where business goes, so goes our community.”

– Vonnie Mikkelsen, President and CEO, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce

That is why we identify issues impacting business before they hit the headlines; why we invite you to study the issues with us, to weigh in, or help us weigh in on your behalf. We show up because we care about business and we care about the community – and we can get things done better by working together.

Finally, this coming year, we will be revealing a new brand platform.

We have results in hand from robust brand research conducted last year. It gives us a clear picture of where we shine and where, with some polishing, we can shine even brighter by: