SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO and the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce are launching a partnership that could eventually include chambers of commerce throughout the region. The organizations announced the CenterState Chamber Alliance on June 7. The partnership makes each group’s member services and benefits available to the other. That includes networking programs, education and training […]
SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO and the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce are launching a partnership that could eventually include chambers of commerce throughout the region.
The organizations announced the CenterState Chamber Alliance on June 7. The partnership makes each group’s member services and benefits available to the other.
That includes networking programs, education and training sessions, and member discounts.
The two groups will maintain their local identities, management teams, board control, member-relations efforts, and services. They will actively market each other’s programs and events and promote cross-member participation, according to CenterState CEO.
CenterState CEO President Robert Simpson expects the alliance to add more members. The group is in talks with other chambers now and the response has been positive.
“Inviting other chambers to be a part of this makes sense,” he says. “Finding ways to collaborate and support small businesses is a logical step for us to take.”
Any future additions to the alliance would retain their local identities and leadership as well, Simpson says.
The effort creates a stronger, more regional voice for advocacy, he adds. When policy and regulatory issues affecting businesses arise in Albany or Washington, D.C., the chambers plan to coordinate and make their case together to lawmakers.
Advocacy is a hallmark of chambers across the country, says Sam Berardino, chairman of the Mohawk Valley Chamber board of directors.
“We’ve done a good job partnering with our elected officials,” he says. “We’ve captured their attention and they listen and act. But we’re just one chamber.
“If we really want to promote meaningful, sustainable growth, we need to work together and we know that.”
It’s a critical time for businesses to push their agenda with legislators, he adds.
“There are numerous forces out there lobbying at all levels for anti-business policies,” Berardino says. “That’s why it’s more important than ever for large regional chambers to be a voice for members.
CenterState CEO, based in Syracuse, is the result of a merger between the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York. It has 2,000 member companies.
The Mohawk Valley Chamber, based in Utica, represents about 900 businesses. The chamber has been working with CenterState CEO affiliate Benefit Specialists of New York to provide health-benefit services for its members for the past three years.
The alliance should help members grow their businesses, says Jane Amico, vice president of chamber services at CenterState CEO. Firms in Central New York now have an easier way to make contacts in the Utica–Rome area.
In fact, CenterState has already received at least one call from a member looking for introductions in the Mohawk Valley.
“It puts people in connection with one another,” Amico says of the partnership.
The alliance will also help improve member discounts. CenterState CEO’s group purchasing programs in areas like office
supplies, human resources, and energy will get better as more members use them and vendors provide deeper price reductions for the larger group.
Scaling up those discount programs is another key reason for expanding the alliance, Simpson says.
