Three chambers have come together to form a new regional chamber—the Central NH Chamber of Commerce—and that could be the catalyst for others to do the same.
In May, the Pemi Valley Chamber of Commerce, Plymouth Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Squam Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce consolidated into one chamber. “We are better together than apart,” says Scott Stephens, executive director of the Central NH Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center and the former executive director of the Plymouth Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The consolidation is years in the making, Stephens says, noting there had been discussions on and off, for the past 20 years. When Stephens joined the Plymouth Chamber in 2010, he worked to double membership, which now stands at more than 240. Part of that was spurred by the Newfound Chamber of Commerce dissolving and the Plymouth Chamber absorbing its membership.
While Plymouth was growing, the Pemi Valley Chamber was struggling, going through four executive directors in five years. “It was hard to get continuity and traction. It was out of necessity for them to do something. What they were doing wasn’t working. It was good timing all the way around,” Stephens says of the impetus for discussing a regional chamber.
There was also an overlap in membership. The area has few large employers, so most of the membership of the chambers is small businesses that felt obligated to be members of the various area chambers, which was a burden for some. “Not a week went by when someone said, ‘Why don’t you two just come together?’” Stephens says.
By May 1, the Central NH Chamber of Commerce officially launched with 345 members. The chamber, which is headquartered in what was the Pemi Valley Chamber building at Exit 28 of I-93 in Campton, now encompasses 21 towns and 1,000 square miles.
The chamber is broken down into five distinct regions and will treat each region as its own distinct brand in its marketing efforts, Stephens says. “We’re cognizant so no one loses their identity,” he says.
Each of the five regions has two designated seats on the board of directors and those representatives must be a business that is distinctly from that region. There are also five at-large seats that will be filled by larger businesses that do business across the regions.
He anticipates more businesses will be actively involved with the new chamber because there is only one organization to deal with.
The biggest advantage is the new chamber’s ability to invest in “some real destination marketing” for the region, Stephens says. “As individual chambers, we were not able to do that because most of the cost was going to just keeping the doors open. We have some real dollars to work with from a marketing standpoint. That will attract more businesses to get involved in the chamber.”
Stephens says the new chamber is creating a buzz, and he anticipates membership to increase to 400 by the end of the year. Other chambers in the state have reached out to Stephens inquiring about details of how the new regional chamber was formed.
To learn more, visit www.centralnh.org.
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