Chairman's Message

W.A.C.E. is all about YOU!

It’s all about providing you with the best professional development training - anywhere. Whether it’s through attending Academy, the Annual Conference, Senior Executives’ Roundtable, or participating in the organization’s Webinar Series, W.A.C.E. educational programs are simply the best on the market, designed specifically to give YOU the tools and knowledge you need to be a successful chamber executive!

And with over 860 members from 15 Western states, W.A.C.E. is the largest state or regional organization of chamber staff professionals in the U.S., providing you with unparalleled peer networking opportunities.

Your Board of Directors is focused on improving our collective professional image, reducing the attrition of talented executives to other industries, enhancing salaries and benefits, and better preparing our members for advancement.

Vice Chair Debbie Moreno (Bakersfield, CA) will be leading an effort to develop a program for assisting members in preparing for advancement and assisting local chambers in finding the perfect CEO candidate. One area that will be looked at closely is the establishment of a relationship with a professional executive search firm to work with both chambers and chamber professionals.

Immediate Past Chairman Kara Kelley (Las Vegas, NV) and Past Chair Ken Oplinger will be working with Charlton Research to find out what large corporations think about local chambers of commerce and why more of them don’t belong to local chambers.

W.A.C.E. will continue to offer superb training opportunities for today’s chamber professional. Vice Chair Betty Nokes (Bellevue, WA) will be looking into improving our communication with you through new technologies.

Vice Chair Cindy Roth (Riverside, CA) will be overseeing our Academy-Plus program, this year’s Senior Executive’s Roundtable, and the W.A.C.E. Webinar Series.

Vice Chair Jim Goodwin (Chico, CA) will chair the planning committee for the 2009 Conference to be held at the Rio All Suites Hotel in Las Vegas!

Chair-Elect Diane Schwenke (Grand Junction, CO) is already busy planning our program priorities for 2009.

I will be working with the Board and W.A.C.E. management team in an effort to rebrand our profession and organization in terms that will resonate better with the business community. For those of us in the top staff positions, our title has changed through the years – from Secretary or Manager in the 1920s, to Executive Vice President and Executive Director, and now most of us are called President and/or CEO. But we need to do more than simply wear the title: We need to actually be the CEOs of our organizations, which may call for new governance models for this new era of chamber management.

It’s an honor to serve you, and I look forward to a very exciting year!