Not Your Father's Chamber

Not Your Father's Chamber

BUSINESS by Janet Leiser | Senior Editor

Night life. Condo towers. Hip retail shops. St. Petersburg isn't what it used to be. It's a vibrant, changing city.

St. Petersburg used to be known as the city where retirees came to live out their last years. No more. It's fast becoming home to artists, college kids, families and entrepreneurs.

New, upscale condo towers, such as Signature Place and Ovation, are popping up downtown. New developments, valued at as much as $2 billion, are planned for the city. Upscale restaurants and new shops, including TheSembler Co.'s BayWalk, bring diners and shoppers downtown.

It was only fitting that the once-sleepy St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce would change, too.

And what a year it was for the chamber.

Chamber President/CEO John T. Long, who took over in January 2006, transformed the organization from a stodgy group to one that's nimble, growing and heavily involved in business issues.

"Word is getting out," Long says. "There's a buzz in the community."

Last year, for the first time in several years, the Chamber gained more members than it lost. In fact, membership grew by 20% to more than 2,300 members and the retention rate was a whopping 91%, compared to its prior three-year average of 60%.

This year looks even more promising: The chamber added 90 new members in January, pushing it over the 2,400 mark.

Craig Sher, CEO of The Sembler Co., who chaired the search committee that hired Long, says: "We were accused, and rightfully so, of being stagnant. We needed to facilitate change and we've done that."

The shake-up

The chamber search committee conducted a national search not once, but twice before settling on Long, a former banker, who more than doubled the membership as president of the chamber in Kalamazoo, Mich., and won national recognition for programs he started there.

Former Bayfront Medical Center CEO Jim Albright, now a health care consultant, says the search committee figured that if Long could double the membership in Kalamazoo, he could do a great job in St. Petersburg, which has so much to offer.

Many people seem to welcome the chamber's evolving role.

"I think everyone was ready for the change," says Sher.

Albright, who will become chamber chairman April 1, says the organization doesn't even resemble itself of two years ago.

"I've had people caution us not to move too quickly," he says. "We're not. One of my jobs as chair-designate is to pace the growth appropriately. But we're not letting the grass grow under our feet."

The yard must be bare.

About five employees of the chamber's 28-member staff have left in the past year. Long conducted national searches for replacements. He hired three new directors, including a director of finance/operations.

"I didn't come here to make friends," he says. "I know I'm not going to get dinner invitations from everyone."

He has created a customer-driven sales culture.

When asked to explain what the culture was like previously, he says, "Someone came in the first week I was here and asked if they could join the chamber. The front desk told them the sales person was out of the office and could they come back, instead of letting one of the other 15 people in the office handle it."

These days, any would-be customers are helped on the spot.

Long also hired an employee who spends most of her eight-hour workday calling existing customers to see how they're doing. He says communication is important when it comes to retention.

"As I said to everyone, "We're going to have an organization where everything we do, nothing is short of exceptional.' That's a pretty thrilling statement. It makes me shake every time I say it. What really takes place is you upgrade your expectations and your performance."

Long, who has a sunny outlook and broad smile, is quick with witticisms.

"We're pleased to say our organization doesn't think outside the box," he says. "We don't have a box. We look at all possibilities. We understand you have to fail to be successful. We're here to be the voice of business."

Lofty goals

When Long looks for a role model for the chamber, he doesn't just gaze across the bay.

"We're looking at being the finest organization whatever we do, and if we're talking membership, we look for the best membership numbers in the country," says Long, who oversees a $2.8 million budget.

"We have no interest in being the best organization in Tampa Bay or the best organization in the state of Florida. We want, whatever we do, to compete with the best programs in the country."

In addition to personnel changes and a new culture, the chamber's board of directors also restructured, cutting its size from 35 voting members to 19.

"We found that while we got good opinions, we couldn't move quickly," Long says. "We weren't nimble."

The group plans to host quarterly advisory council meetings with about 100 members, he says, adding: "We'll gather opinions, insight, recommendations from the bigger group, while the smaller more nimble governing board can move quickly to make decisions."

In addition, Long is reaching out to minority groups to include them in chamber activities. Long also changed the membership structure so that those who pay the most receive the most benefits, whatever the size of their company.

Startups that attend the chamber's entrepreneurial academy receive one year's membership for free.

"Our objective is to grow small businesses, not to give them reasons not to join," Long says.

He also established a 501c (3) foundation, as well as the chamber's first political action committee.

The group plans to send members to Tallahassee during the upcoming legislative session to meet with legislators about the state's property insurance crisis and other issues.

The 'three h's'

Sher says it's important for the 108-year-old chamber to move to the next level so that business has a voice in issues that affect it.

"We need advocacy for members at all levels of government," says Sher.

Says Long: "What business forgets a lot is if government does it well, it's really effective. But if it doesn't do it well, then us in the business world have to stand up."

He calls the chamber's top priorities the "three H's" for workforce housing, the health insurance challenge and the homeless situation, which has attracted much bad publicity in recent weeks for the city.

Why should the chamber care about the quality of life?

"If you don't have a strong quality of life in your community, your business is going to be increasingly challenged," Long says. "If you don't have growth, you're going to be in a community where folks don't want to live. You want to be in a community where things are happening and where your business looks like the community."

If young professionals don't want to live in your community, he says, "You're not going to get the kinds of employees you want."

Or to attract quality employees from elsewhere, employers will have to pay more, he says, adding, "That means your product is going to cost more and you're battling against the elements of the free enterprise system."Long says more and more young professionals are choosing to live in St. Petersburg, though. The median age is 39 and dropping.

The old mentality that business people pack up at night and go home, with no thought for the community or the educational system, is untrue, he says.

"It has to come together," Long says. "It has to fit. Business people have parents, they have kids. They want to see success come from that."

What's next?

"We haven't taken a breath yet," Long says. "Nor do we intend to."

The chamber expects St. Petersburg, with a population of about 249,000 in 2004, to become one of the top 10 growth communities in the country.

Sher admits he's biased on the city's behalf, but he says: "From a development perspective, St. Petersburg is clearly leading the way on the West Coast of Florida. It's arguably the cultural center of the West Coast. There are seven museums, with a new ($30 million) Dali museum coming. We've renovated the Mahaffey Theater. There are a number of developments under construction."

As the city's transformation continues, the chamber will have a strong role, Long says.

"We see the chamber being vital in that, not necessarily always taking the lead, but it's always in the photograph," he says. "We're going to be an organization that takes on challenges."

REVIEW SUMMARY

CEO. John T. Long

Business. St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce

Key. To grow and prosper, chambers must represent the voice of business at the local and state levels.