Feature image: Downtown Hot Springs (Visit Hot Springs)
Time was when a big-city chamber of commerce was primarily — even exclusively — interested in hosting networking events and helping tend to the needs of the companies within a very limited tent.
Those days are gone, say chamber leadership. Members’ needs continue to evolve and, with them, the expectations of what chamber membership should afford. Effective chambers must also be as skilled at attracting new businesses as they are at nurturing existing ones, yielding recruitment efforts that are far more developed and proactive than in previous eras.
Arkansas Money & Politics reached out to four chambers in the state’s metro regions to see how their missions have changed and how they are embracing the challenges of the future.
GREATER HOT SPRINGS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Cole McCaskill has not been in chamber work that long, but the time he has put in has been transformative for the city of Hot Springs.
“I was hired as the downtown development director after the [Majestic] hotel burned down,” he said. “There was a big initiative locally to try to spur some redevelopment because we had a bunch of empty, boarded-up buildings, and there wasn’t a whole lot of reason for a whole lot of exciting new things going on downtown at the time.”
Cole McCaskill
Many locals point to the devastating fire that reduced the once-opulent Majestic Hotel to smoking rubble as the turning point for the city, one from which Hot Springs has never looked back. McCaskill, now vice president of economic development at the Hot Springs Metro Partnership, a sister organization of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, takes that period as inspiration for what people of big thinking and hard work can accomplish, even facing enormous obstacles.
“We’ve got our challenges. One of the biggest ones is available land,” he said. “We have all these wonderful outdoor recreational areas. We have a lot of federally owned property, such as the Ouachita National Forest, the Hot Springs National Park, obviously, in and around the downtown area. Yet we’ve still managed to develop two industrial parks in Garland County that are completely full.
“That’s a good thing and a bad thing because it’s great that the industrial parks are full and thriving, but those were two of the most ideal pieces of land for industrial development, so where do we look in the future? Well, our organization just purchased another 26-acre piece of property where we’re doing site development for industrial purposes, and we’re also working on a new industrial park to be announced soon.”
McCaskill said other perceived hurdles to attracting manufacturing and industry to a town known primarily for tourism are actually opportunities.
“The tourism greatly enhances our ability to sell the area and the quality of life here,” he said. “All the reasons why somebody would want to come visit here makes it that much more fun to live here, as well. We hear from lots of local industry executives who tell us they love being able to attract new employees to Hot Springs.”
LITTLE ROCK REGIONAL CHAMBER
There is a lot to smile about in the Little Rock business community — growth in every sector of the city, the Port of Little Rock bursting at the seams with tenants and a new downtown master plan pointing the way to the city’s future. Even so, leadership is hardly resting on its laurels.
Chesshir, longtime chamber president and CEO, said the drive to evolve with the times and needs of membership is a constant challenge.
Jay Chesshir
“In the past, the chamber was much like an order taker. Somebody needs to go do this. Somebody needs to make this better. Somebody needs to help the economy do whatever. Today, that’s evolved,” he said. “I’ve been in this business now for a little over 30 years, and early in my career, the chamber was about what’s now, but today, especially with those younger businesspeople coming on board, it’s about what’s next.”
Chesshir said that perspective permeates all areas of chamber operations, from economic development to tourism.
“In the old days, the larger companies within the community were all about economic development because they saw it as a way to help grow the overall economy, and doing so would help themselves,” he said. “Today, you have smaller companies who are looking for relationships they can leverage to not only help their business grow but also leverage resources and information on some cutting-edge areas to help them with whatever it is they’re doing.
“Our No. 1 economic development issue over the last seven to eight years, for example, was public education. That’s why we birthed the Academies of Central Arkansas through the Ford Next Generation Learning Framework to help our high school students from the ninth grade on be better prepared both for college, as well as career.”
Chesshir said the comprehensive view of the chamber’s mission is also useful in avoiding blind spots when it comes to the less-sexy elements of growth.
“If you don’t have the basic infrastructure in place required for a growing population, you just can’t be successful,” he said. “Before we talk about anything, we have to make sure that we have ample capacity of water, ample capacity of wastewater treatment, ample electricity and gas, good roads. You can have the most well-funded economic development organization in the United States, but if it’s sitting in the midst of a crumbling community, it’s not going to work.”
NORTH LITTLE ROCK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Few communities in Arkansas have enjoyed the transformative couple of decades that North Little Rock has. Long gone are days when the city north of the river was the homely sister to the beauty queen, and Dogtown has consistently gone toe to toe with its larger neighbor to the south in growth, entertainment and economic development.
Derrell Hartwick, president and CEO of the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, said continuity of vision across multiple administrations such as City Hall is a big reason why.
Derrell Hartwick
“North Little Rock, specifically, has had great leadership for over 30 years,” he said. “That’s been from when my dad, [Terry Hartwick], was mayor in the 1980s to Pat Hays when he was mayor and Joe Smith was in city government, and then he became mayor and had the continuation of a vision that Pat had. Then Dad ran and won again, which is three mayors over 30-plus years. That gave us a sustained vision and goal for everyone in the community.”
Fortunately for the chamber, that vision has been very pro-business and pro-growth over that time, resulting in conspicuous development from the showy Argenta entertainment district and the less visible but no less vital growth in the city’s industrial parks.
“There’s not a lot of red tape here. We’re business friendly,” Hartwick said. “Having leaders who can communicate and have that same perspective where they can see what a successful city will look like is why you’re seeing the success now. It doesn’t happen overnight, but we are starting to see that success happen.”
Hartwick said another advantage the chamber has is a willingness to let youth be heard, which introduces new ideas and fresh thinking into the process of carrying the community forward. He himself is a prime example as he leads the chamber to serve the needs of all members regardless of generation.
“We really try to listen really well,” he said. “I was raised by an individual who was community focused, and I’ve always been around his generation of people, a lot of our leaders in central Arkansas, and I learned how they operated and their vision.
“Now I’m trying to be a bridge from that generation to the next, letting people know they not only have a seat at the table; we need those younger people to step up. That’s the biggest thing we’ve done, specifically on the chamber board, is say, ‘OK, who’s next?’”
ROGERS LOWELL CHAMBER
The past two decades have been remarkable for the four-headed economic monster of Fayetteville, Bentonville, Springdale and Rogers, which collectively comprise the northwest Arkansas growth juggernaut. Raymond Burns, president and CEO of the Rogers Lowell Chamber, has watched from the front row both as a native resident and through 38 years leading the chamber.
He said the most amazing thing is how each of the four communities continue to cooperate yet maintain their own identities.
Raymond Burns
“If you get right down to it, I think the communities that have thrived the most are the ones that have been able to be the most proactive,” he said. “Certainly in Rogers, we’re always out there, looking at the next 10, 15 years, you know? What are the short-term goals and what’s the big, hairy, audacious goal?”
The Rogers Lowell Chamber track record has proven very effective in that regard. Burns pointed to several bond issues the organization has helped shepherd through channels, which built transportation and other infrastructure that literally paved the way for major developments by heritage and newcomer companies alike.
“I think we’ve done a really good job of being the downtown of northwest Arkansas. Our location is really good in terms of where we fall on the interstate, where some of the most sought-after amenities are,” he said. “We can put 10,000, 12,000 people in a concert at Walmart AMP, we can get to a convention center for different activities, and we can get to shopping or our medical campus, which is continuing to grow by hundreds of millions of dollars.
“We also cover the city of Lowell, where, with the aggressive expansion plans that J.B. Hunt has, it’s been very good for the many small businesses that have filled in around the main headquarters.”
Burns also praised the collaborative spirit of the four communities that has sparked and sustained the remarkable run of growth.
“If you look back 25 years, it was more about Friday-night football than it was collaboration,” he said. “Today, our regular monthly meeting of the chamber execs runs for two or three hours, and we collaborate with each other. Sure, we all want to get everything we can for our community, but if 200 jobs goes to Springdale instead of Rogers, there’s going to be a good number of those people who live in Rogers. It’s good for everybody.”
