Q&A: Wayne Roberts, Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce

Vermont Business Magazine, Jul 01, 2004

Wayne Roberts is the president of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, which represents 18 communities in Chittenden County, and has served in that capacity for the better part of two decades. The official divisions of the LCRCC include Leadership Champlain, the Education and Training Division, the Vermont Convention Bureau and the Lake Champlain Valley Regional Marketing Organization.

Originally from Jeffersonville, Roberts has been a small business owner, a professor at Johnson State College, and at one time worked for IBM. From 1980 to 1986 be served in the Reagan Administration, first as deputy personnel director, and then, through a personal appointment by President Reagan, as Deputy Undersecretary of Education.

Roberts is an avid flyfisherman, a "strong believer in catch and release," be says, and enjoys racquetball and golf.

He has three grown sons and two grandsons.

Robert Smith interviewed Roberts at the Jackson Gore Resort at Okemo Mountain in Ludlow.

VBM: I'd like to start with your background. How did you end up here in Vermont working with the Chamber?

Roberts: My background is that I owned and operated a small business in Vermont, and I worked for a large corporation, IBM. I'd been a professor at Johnson State College and I worked for the United States government as Deputy of White House Personnel and Deputy Undersecretary of Education in the Reagan Administration. Combining those together for Chamber work, and being a Vermonter, those are my qualifications.

VBM: Are you originally from Vermont?

Roberts: Yes. From Jeffersonville.

VBM: Wow. A real Vermonter. I've been to Jeffersonville.

Roberts: Not many people know where it is. This is my home. I think that's my biggest qualification. Knowing Vermont, understanding Vermont and loving Vermont.

VBM: How did you come to be involved with the Chamber?

Roberts: I was working for President Reagan, and I wanted to get back to Vermont. I have three sons and I wanted to be a greater part of their lives. This opportunity to work with the Chamber came up, and I took it. It's been a glorious ride.

VBM: What exactly does the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce do?

Roberts: We have approximately 2,600 businesses in our Chamber, Our Convention Bureau is statewide and our Leadership Champlain Program is statewide. We have very active members. Some of the major things that we do are in government affairs, regional affairs, tourism, the Convention Bureau, Leadership Champlain and education.

VBM: How are you involved in tourism?

Roberts: Tourism is a very large part of our operation, but we're also a very diverse operation. No one group or service or sector of the economy is greater than 10 percent of our membership. So we handle manufacturing, retail, tourism, services like banking, and non-profits. And most of our businesses are small businesses - most are 10 employees or less. So, while we feel very strongly that we have to help and maintain our large businesses, the core of our businesses are small businesses.

VBM: What do you do for those businesses?

Roberts: The first thing I'd say is that we're a very effective lobbying group. We have several full-time lobbyists in Montpelier. We have a very bi-partisan approach to it. We work with our legislators to help large and small businesses.

With tourism, we have a very strong regional marketing organization, and are very active in promoting tourism. Our convention bureau is one of our strongest growing segments. We do a lot of direct sales to meeting planners to bring them to Vermont. Leadership Champlain and our educational division are very active in the educational field, especially with the new Tech Center and in training our young people for the future.

VBM: What is the Tech Center?

Roberts: In Chittenden County there are two regional tech centers, and we've proposed to combine them and have a very sophisticated educational experience for our students. Right now about 10 percent of our students are served by technical education. We feel there is a strong need to train and prepare our students for the future, and the new technical center is one of the ways.

VBM: The Howard Dean Technical Center in Springfield is a huge plus for where I come from in southeastern Vermont.

Roberts: Sure. That's an excellent facility. We've been working for seven years on the project in Chittenden County and we now have a fully sanctioned school board, and we have a vote in November for the start of construction of the center.

The Lake Champlain Chamber has one of the largest and most energetic staffs that there is.

VBM: How big a staff do you have?

Roberts: Thirty-four. We've a good-sized staff. But understand that we run four very strong informational centers. We have one at the Burlington Airport, we have the Williston north and south rest area informational centers on Interstate 89, and of course we have 60 Main Street in Burlington. So there are a lot of people involved in literally getting people who get off an airplane or just off the road into the businesses and to enjoy the Vermont experience. That's a very integral part of our operation.