Marcia O”™Kane has much to be proud of as she begins her third year as executive director of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. Since taking the helm of the business organization nonprofit, there has been a dramatic turnaround in membership ””an increase of more than 180 new members and a 90 percent retention rate.
“But the improvement is not about the numbers, it”™s about how we service members,” said O”™Kane. “With the help of our board of directors, we”™ve made the chamber a relevant organization that truly serves its members.”
She explained that in order to achieve the chamber”™s mission of advocate, promoter, connector and educator of business people under her direction, the pulse of the membership is taken on an ongoing basis. Needs are assessed to create and implement appropriate programs.
If that sounds like running a business, it is. O”™Kane has been leveraging her extensive and relevant background and experience which began as an MBA graduate from Boston University and continued as a high-level, financial executive with Royal Bank of Canada Dominion Securities on Wall Street and continued with prominent leadership and management positions in the nonprofit sector.
She says that the experience of witnessing the 9/11 attacks prompted her to change the focus of her career so that she would give back more to the community, something she had always done in her free time by serving on the boards of the March of Dimes, the Arthritis Foundation and the Women”™s Business Development Center. Most recently, she served as executive director/president of the Stamford Senior Center.
One of her first initiatives at the chamber was to undertake an in-depth survey of members, past members and board members to learn the No. 1 benefit they expected to get out of membership. “It was networking opportunities and, accordingly, my goal has been to provide a panoply of offerings so that members have ample options to promote their businesses effectively.”
She is particularly proud of the Women Who Matter Luncheon series. The inspiration for this new program came when O”™Kane was walking down Greenwich Avenue one day and noticed that most of the stores are managed, owned or run by women, a market that “had been an underserved at our chamber. It is undeniable that women represent a strong and burgeoning market segment. So we came up with this series that features successful women from Greenwich as guest speakers who talk about what mattered to them personally during the ups and downs of their careers. It was an instant hit, drawing record attendance and positive feedback.”
She also cites the popularity of the educational presentations that have been providing members with basic tips and helpful information on a range of topics such as how to prepare a business plan, how to leverage LinkedIn and other social media platforms, how to cold call effectively and how to prepare an attention-getting elevator speech. As a measure of the effectiveness of these new programs, O”™Kane says participants have reported making many new business contacts “just by meeting new faces and sharing a glass of wine.”
Every activity of the chamber is designed to help members, including O”™Kane”™s monthly radio show on KWCH 1498 in Greenwich. “Instead of talking about the chamber, we use the medium to interview new members to help them promote their businesses to listeners,” she said.
Under O”™Kane”™s leadership, the chamber has forged stronger bonds with local organizations such as the Greenwich Historical Society, YMCA and Greenwich Library by collaborating on community programs. Last fall, the chamber partnered with Tim Armstrong, chairman and CEO of AOL and American Express, to promote Small Business Saturday. AOL”™s Patch.com provided free parking on a significant portion of Greenwich Avenue that made it easier for shoppers to purchase from local merchants. “We want to do more of that,” O”™Kane said.
Today”™s chamber of nearly 500 members is vastly different from the one that was established 97 years ago. It was an institution that, until recent years, remained male dominated, something familiar to O”™Kane, who said, “I was the only female who sat in the board room during my years on Wall Street.”
That helps explain why O”™Kane is passionate about “reinventing our chamber so that we provide outreach to a wide diversity of members, including entrepreneurs and all-sized businesses and organizations. When someone joins our chamber, I immediately say, ”˜Welcome to our chamber family!”™ because that is the experience I want to give them ”” like being part of a family.”
