President's Message
By Colleen DiPirro - Amherst Chamber of Commerce
The Amherst Chamber of Commerce - Expanding our Circle of Influence
The numbers are in - in 2010 we welcomed 338 new members into the Amherst Chamber of Commerce. Firms with less than 10 employees make up 40% of those new members. An additional 20% had less than 25 employees and the remaining 40% were evenly split between 50-100 employees and 100-500 employees. This diversity of firms investing in our organization causes us to conclude that we balance small business services with community leadership; with each resonating with the business community.
We are increasing our business services to include the addition of our fifth Professional Networking Group, expansion of our Emerging Business Leaders program and the launch of Insights and Inspirations, a peer to peer leadership development group. Additionally, our Business Resource Council is kicking off the Member Education Workshop Series Friday, February 4th at 8:15 AM at Trocaire College's Russell Salvatore School of Hospitality and Management. These programs are in addition to our rapidly growing Health Insurance offerings, our committees and councils and the utilization of office and meeting space at our Chamber headquarters. Businesses see the tangible value in this menu of services and utilization is growing along with our membership ranks.
In the past year, we have hosted Member Meetings with Congressman Chris Lee, County Executive Chris Collins and United States Senator Chuck Schumer. On Friday, February 4th we hosted Governor Cuomo for his first official visit to Erie County since taking office. NYS Senator George Maziarz and Senate Majority Dean Skelos are on deck. Chamber members can expect invitations to these meetings in the near future. We are also working with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and anticipate confirming a date with her for later in the spring. Senator Schumer is brokering a meeting for us and our guests with United States Commissioner of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sibelius; also to take place later this year. Our ability as an organization to dialogue and interface with public officials of this caliber gives us the opportunity to communicate the challenges of the business community and weigh in on public policy at every level of government.
By the time you read this article, we will have installed our 2011 Board of Directors and hosted the State of the Town Address by Supervisor Barry Weinstein to an audience of over 300! We are certainly expanding our Circle of Influence. Why not call the Chamber today, 632-6905, to find out how your engagement in the Amherst Chamber of Commerce can assist you in meeting your professional and financial goals.
350 Essjay Road, Suite 200 