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Cindy Roth, ACE
President/CEO, Greater Riverside
CA Chambers of Commerce |
This
year’s WACE Annual Conference theme “IMAGINE”
was the perfect start for the New Year. If there
has ever been a time for new ideas, best
practices, new models and the exchange of ideas,
it is now and the conference delivered that
information to you!
This year through
WACE and the Foundation, we were fortunate to
secure Peter Sheahan, a globally recognized
expert in workforce trends and generational
change and the author of FL!P: How to Succeed by
Turning Everything You Know on Its Head –and
Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings. During
his dynamic presentation, Peter reminded us that
to be a “flipstar” you need to be willing to
risk and do things differently, not just talk
about what needs to be done. In our business, we
must develop a deep understanding of the
changing expectations of both our members and
employees. Kudos to Mike McLaran the Conference
Chair and his team for putting together an
excellent program with tremendous takeaway value
for our members.
This year at the
Conference, we also launched the new and revised
WACE Tool Kit 3.0, Winning Strategies for
Chamber Core Competencies, through the
leadership of Betty Nokes. Attendees walked away
with a flash drive containing new ideas and
programs highlighting the Five Core
Competencies, which they, in turn, could
potentially develop for their organizations.
In addition, your Board of Directors decided
to embark upon an exciting new program. At a
time when job creation and maintaining a strong
local economy are the top issues our members
identify as the “Chamber Mission”, the Board
unanimously agreed to create an Economic
Development Training Program for Chamber
Executives. Now, when our cities, counties and
our states are under financial siege, we must
understand the process and be at the table when
job growth and business recruitment and
retention decisions are made in our communities.
My special thanks to Ken Moore who agreed to the
lead this new program.
As you will note
from this brochure, we have a number of
exceptional programs planned that will be led by
the Executive Board and Directors. I want to
thank in advance each of the volunteers and
staff who serve this organization so well. As in
all our organizations, it takes a team to meet
the Program Priorities and we have a stellar
team!
Finally, a comment…and a challenge.
WACE currently has approximately 720 members
from 14 states. Just “IMAGINE” if all of the
chambers in the western region joined our
organization and took advantage of the resources
of WACE. Just imagine if all Chambers
implemented the WACE Tool Kit.
Cindy
Roth, ACE
President/CEO
Greater Riverside
Chambers of Commerce
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