Rockford Chamber is designated survivor as business world merges
As area business leaders work to merge the Rockford region's leading business organizations, they have chosen the Rockford Chamber of Commerce as the designated survivor.
If this were a cup of coffee, the Rockford Area Economic Development Council and the Greater Rockford Growth Partnership would be the cream and sugar. And they are about to be stirred into the Rockford Chamber of Commerce.
What emerges Oct. 1 will be something area leaders are calling the "Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce."
"When you can not only combine resources and efficiencies, but also the fundamental work that needs to be done on behalf of the business community — attraction, retention, expansion, business support, advocacy — having it really housed in one organization with one board of directors, makes a lot of sense," said Conor Brown, CEO of the NorthWest Illinois Alliance of Realtors.
Brown is one of five members of the RAEDC nominated to join the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Five were also chosen from the GRGP along with five from the current Chamber board.
Come Oct. 1, the RAEDC and GRGP will cease to exist. Their employees and assets will be absorbed by the Chamber of Commerce, the organization leaders chose to keep and revamp for both legal expediency and marketing purposes.
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The current Chamber board members will resign.
A new board that combines leaders of all three organizations will be seated to lead the new Greater Rockford Chamber, with an expanded mission. The Economic Development Council will be an arm of the Greater Rockford Chamber, as will the Rockford Chamber.
"New name, new energy," Illinois Bank & Trust President and CEO Jeff Hultman said during a phone interview. "But technically it’s a continuance of the chamber as a legal vessel."
The new board will meet for the first time Oct. 5 to elect executive members like chairman, vice chairman and secretary. They could also vote to hire a firm to conduct a search for a CEO of the new organization.
It's a far cry from the mixed-up situation that has existed the last couple years.
The creation of the Greater Rockford Growth Partnership in 2021 was billed as a way to align the goals of the Chamber and the RAEDC. But it created a confusing leadership structure in which both the Chamber and RAEDC presidents reported to the GRGP, but also answered to their own boards of directors.
The merger of the three organizations is expected not only to eliminate that confusion, but allow the organizations to better pool resources and get better results for member businesses and the community, Hultman said.
"Through a consolidated, singular effort, we hope to be more clear, more relentless and hopefully more effective ultimately," Hultman said.
Jeff Kolkey can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Two Rockford business organizations to merge into Rockford CHamber
