The Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce has a defined vision to contribute to the creation of a thriving, vibrant business community where people choose to do business. Our mission is to act as a champion for the business community by advocating for, connecting and supporting our members. The values that drive the decisions and planning of the chamber revolve around engaging, acting, respecting, partnering and sharing the work we, as volunteers at the Board level and the staff team, do.
I believe that this past year has been positive for the Chamber.
Building from the groundwork laid by those before us, 2016 has been a year of success in a number of areas: tackling head on the biggest challenge for the GSCC which is remaining relevant and delivering value to members, both individually and to the business community as a whole; creating and implementing a now firmly forged partnership and cohesion among our partner economic development agencies; delineating goals and objectives tracked by metrics and markers; adopting mechanisms to deliver enhanced efficiency and provide a clearer sense of purpose around the board table; and, increasing visibility and importance of the role and influence of the GSCC in the wider business community.
As with any member driven volunteer guided organization, 2016 was far from perfect and there is still much work to be done and some things we needed to do better. This past year we ran a deficit. The deficit was created by a decision not to host a larger event that would generate sponsorship revenue. As you may recall, in 2014 we hosted the Way Forward Conference that laid out concerns that we as a business community must address to ensure long term success and sustainability. In 2015 the conference was held again with a focus on proposed solutions. The conference generated two things: sponsorship revenue and ideas.
In 2016 we implemented those ideas, one of which was the Forward Summerside project (based loosely on Ignite Fredericton). Forward Summerside was financed internally, based on the idea that we must pull up our own bootstraps on our own terms and with our investment if we wanted to get off on the right foot. We hosted the Forward Summerside event and invested significant time and effort to moving to project along. We made a decision to do this instead of hosting a sponsorship generating event. I personally believe Forward Summerside was a valuable investment, but time and our ongoing shared commitment to the project will tell.
Some of the other areas that we did not get the chance to address and I hope we do in the coming years are: tackling our year over year financial balances so that we live within our means and deliver the best value for membership; improve and expand upon the importance of investing locally in our community to keep dollars here (and bring in more from the outside) so that wealth cycles through Summerside and does not leak to elsewhere; putting more meat on the bones of the Forward Summerside project, because by working smarter together we will expand the environment for good well-paying jobs; advocating for more clarity and certainly on development and planning; and, lastly creating, in partnership, the Summerside narrative in a way that makes us proud of the community we know as our home. I expect that the 2017 Board and membership will be busy.
A Thank You –
The GSCC is a team. It is a team of members, volunteers, staff and supporters. I want to take this moment to thank everyone. I want to thank all of the GSCC members, Board members (past and present), staff, sponsors, committees, speakers, exhibitors, partners, politicians, media, venue hosts, and everyone else who touches or is touched by the GSCC. I also want to thank Cox & Palmer who have been patient, understanding and supportive this past year as my non-billable hours climbed significantly from the past – my 2016 GSCC commitment could not have happened without the support of Cox & Palmer. And, I want to say a quick thanks to my wife April for getting the kids dinner when a meeting ran late, or to school when the meeting started early, for listening to my attempt to write down something funny for a speech when that draft maybe wasn’t so funny, and for the daily kick in the pants reminder that being a catalyst for change requires hard work, patience and a belief in doing good.
While Chambers of Commerce around the country are searching for relevancy in an ever changing landscape of our just in time lives, the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce is on solid footing. We are growing. We are seeing jobs coming to Summerside. We are taking prudent chances to keep driving change and celebrating where we have been and where we will do. We have so much to stand up and be proud of. So thank you for making it happen. And, keep doing it.
As you must know by now for a couple of reasons I have decided to reoffer as President for 2017. I hope to have your support next year as I have the year past. Either way, I am proud to be associated with the GSCC and all of you and we forge ahead together.
I truly believe that what we have here in the Greater Summerside is something special. You don’t get to choose where you are from, but sometimes you get to choose where you live … and you always get to choose what difference you want to make. We have all chosen wisely. #choosesummerside.
Respectfully,
Dan Kutcher – President