Leading Thoughts: A message for the new year

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Leading Thoughts: A message for the new year

The Main Line Chamber of Commerce’s emphasis on people shows up in the relationships that are developed through connecting our members with business, leadership development and talent. It shows up in our team of outstanding employees. It shows up in the financial support we receive as Southeastern Pennsylvania’s big suburban Chamber of Commerce – a distinction that is verified annually in the Philadelphia Business Journal Book of Lists.

Whether you know our Chamber well or not, it’s an evolving story and we need to share it. It begins with the leadership of a strong Board of Directors, staff and membership. While I’m enthusiastically serving in my 15^th year in the role of President and CEO, what we do together is primarily due to the ideas of businesspeople, the resources that come from our sponsors and the talent that powers the Chamber team.  

Among our unique aspects are:

• Our regional focus with members spread throughout Montgomery, Chester and Delaware Counties, with a growing contingent from Philadelphia who are either regionally focused or seeking to build business relationships in the economically mighty western suburbs. Business doesn’t stop at county borders and, in business, more is generally better.
   
• Our strong partnerships with regional impact-oriented entities include support of our Nonprofit Roundtable through a collaboration with the Philadelphia Foundation; participation in Delco Gives Day under the leadership of the Foundation for Delaware County; and support for our Talent and Education Network through United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. We were a key part of the team that created a list of the region’s Civic 50 most philanthropic companies, which recently moved under the portfolio of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia.
   
• We offer our members five leadership/professional development programs. Our Society of Professional Women is the region’s largest women-in-business peer group serving women and men at all levels within corporate, entrepreneurial and nonprofit entities. Our Women Helping Women Peer Mentoring circle is entering its 16th year. Leadership Main Line is currently filling up for its 23rd class set to begin at the end of this month. And Leadership Principles & Profiles management training will be recruiting its eighth class next summer.
   
• The Talent and Education Network offers professional development programs for: 1) students from 30 colleges and universities; 2) high school students from Upper Darby and Norristown Area High Schools; 3) college women participating in our No Limits Leadership Women in Tech Experience and; 4) technical high school students participating in our new Health Care Jobs Consortium with four major health systems. During the 2023-2024 school year, we connected 700 students with career resources and job/internship opportunities.

The fact that we are doing this important work is part of the reason that our Chamber’s Signature Events continue to attract many of the region’s top business leaders, because people care about people.

Our Government Affairs Committee provides members with access to key decisionmakers and elected officials, as evidenced by our annual session with Pennsylvania’s House Majority Leader and the top elected officials in Montgomery, Chester and Delaware Counties.

Our “Evening At” business events, Network at Noon gatherings and Members First events, which all will occur in person in 2025, provide variety and the opportunity to build powerful networks.

We also have 10 business peer groups meeting privately, with more to come in the year ahead.

I’ll wrap up with a few recent anecdotes. A member shared with me this fall that one of his largest clients who consistently purchases his services each year was someone he met through the Chamber. While that’s a big payoff, members also benefit through knowledge, ideas and relationships gained through programs like our Middle Market Business Growth Initiative, which brought 100 business owners into a room where they shared best practices.

My second anecdote comes from our Jobs and Experience Development Initiative (JEDI), which brought Upper Darby students to a Conshohocken manufacturing facility last month. A survey of participating students found that 95 percent thought it was very or extremely valuable to learn about jobs, hear from employers about their experiences and 90 percent said they left with a better idea of what it takes to get a good job. These 20 students were among 700 high school students who will have career-oriented experiences with our employers in 2024-2025.

While we believe some of the best ways we can help to improve the regional economy is to invest in its people and the relationships between them, the message that people are at the heart of businesses is an important one.  

Despite naysayers, successful businesses do far more than turn a profit. They invest in their people. They pay taxes. They encourage employees to volunteer in their communities. They invest in nonprofit organizations that help meet the needs of our region.

The Main Line Chamber of Commerce is an extension of those businesses and the people who power them. We and the region are stronger together.

Happy New Year! Here’s to great things in 2025.

I welcome your comments and ideas, and can be reached at [email protected].

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