Chairman's Perspective -- December Voice 2022

Serving in turbulent times

Dan Ross takes a look back and a look ahead

This is my last column as chair of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity that I was given to play a small part in leading this vital organization. I cannot help but reflect on the past two years, and, if you will indulge me, I would like to share some thoughts.

When I wrote my first column back in early 2021, we were in the midst of a major covid surge. I was writing from an empty office with no idea when we would be back together as a team. At the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, we were working to address the needs of our community, our donors and the greater nonprofit sector in ways that we had never done before. The needs were great on every level, and we simply had to figure out how to get it done.

As a Chamber, we were faced with many of the same issues. Several of our traditional avenues of serving our members were built around the premise of large and small group gatherings, face-to-face meetings and team members working side by side. And just like many of our businesses, the Chamber had to find new and creative ways to serve our members. For quite some time, much of what we did was hidden from public view. We were essentially providing one-on-one service to individual members, helping them address the needs of their ever-changing environment. We simply had to get it done.

There were a few false starts on returning to group programming as people and organizations tried to decide what they were open to. We tried to figure out what would allow people the maximum amount of comfort and protection. We had our first virtual annual meeting, which was a huge departure from the 800-person gatherings we had grown accustomed to. And we had to pull the plug on events at the last minute as the environment changed day by day. But our members still needed service, and we simply had to get it done.

During that period, we had great organizational change. We turned over a large number of board members, with many moving to the Greater Rockford Growth Partnership (GRGP) board. We saw Einar transition from his role as head of the Chamber to becoming the CEO of the GRGP. We proudly promoted Caitlin to president of the Chamber while we embarked on the journey of integration with the GRGP and the Rockford Area Economic Development Council. We also decided to throw in a physical move in the midst of all of this. But the one consistent thing through all this change was that life had to go on for us and our members. We simply had to get it done.

As I write this, we have just completed several, successful large events—a sold out annual dinner, a capacity Pow(her) conference and the kickoff of one of the largest Leadership Rockford classes we have ever had. We are about to seat eight fantastic new board members, and we have a phenomenal new board chair in Jean Crosby. We have lined up several new program offerings for 2023 and a return of many of your favorites.

There will be many lessons we will learn as we blaze new trails, and there will be challenges and unforeseen pitfalls that may bump us onto a new course. That being said, I am confident we will do what we have done for more than 100 years and get it done.

I want to thank all of our board members, the dedicated Chamber staff and the chamber members for all of your support and advice over the past two years. In particular, I want to thank Caitlin for taking on the challenge of leading this organization with drive and ambition and Einar for his many years of dedicated service to the Chamber and the community at large.

I am excited about what lies ahead and grateful for what we learned along the way.