Here to help in 2010

Randy Martinsen,
President & CEO of Accelerated Marketing Group
2010 Napa Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board

As we begin 2010, and another decade in the history of the Napa Chamber of Commerce, we face some economic challenges that started in late 2008 and continue to make doing business difficult and sometimes frustrating.  Thankfully we have the Chamber of Commerce to help us in all the traditional ways Chambers help their members – with marketing and networking opportunities, and events that educate and assist business to succeed.

The Napa Chamber has always been a leader among Chambers of Commerce because of its well-thought vision and goals that extend beyond traditional Chamber benefits to members by actively participating in legislative action using an innovative and intensive process to determine whether the Chamber should take a position on legislative and community issues, including candidate endorsements in election years.  This enables the Chamber to have a strong voice in advocating for its members and for the business community at large to governments.

Our theme this year for our Annual Dinner is Blend 2010.  In keeping with this theme we are introducing a new committee currently named the Economic Vitality and Sustainability Committee.  Once again, the Chamber is expanding benefits to its members, and the business community at large, by holding focus groups we call “Industry Clusters”.  The intent is to convene member and non-member businesses to strengthen the industry cluster by providing information from agencies like the Workforce Investment Board and Napa Valley College Small Business Development Center. In return, the Chamber will be able to gather information from the industry clusters to share with City, County and State agencies and advocate, when necessary.

This committee was the brainchild of our former CEO, Kate King, who saw a need for the Chamber to convene a meeting between Restaurateurs in Napa who needed to discuss sensitive issues with the County surrounding health inspections without the fear of retaliation for registering complaints.  Upon further exploration by the board of directors in our November planning session, other industry clusters were also identified with similar needs.

We look forward to this committee convening advocacy meetings throughout the year, helping our members and non-member businesses work with community leaders and elected officials to sustain business health in the Napa Valley on key local issues that include transportation, housing, jobs and education.

2010 also brings us to the close of our 5-Year Vision, so we will be spending time beginning mid-year reviewing that vision and determining if changes are necessary to keep us on track for the five years beginning in 2011. I look forward to working with the Chamber’s new CEO, Lisa Batto, on these and other activities to make 2010 a banner year for the Chamber by helping our member businesses succeed and grow!