Energized State

Deb Boronski says she started thinking about the concept a few years ago. Through her involvement with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Northeast Board of Regents, she met and talked often with those directing statewide chambers, something Massachusetts has never had, and that Boronski started to think it could possibly use.

Over time, any doubts about such need, at least in her mind, were erased. And thus, after several months of planning, Boronski, long-time senior vice president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS), has launched something called the Mass. Chamber of Business & Industry Inc.

That's the MassCBI, for short, a mostly Web-based organization that will be run out of an office Boronski is now leasing in East Longmeadow. But it will, she says, represent businesses across the state and, in essence, provide a louder, stronger voice than chambers representing individual cities (like Chicopee's and Holyoke's) and regions (like the ACCGS, which has seven chambers representing nearly 2,000 members).

"Our primary focus will be on state issues, those that affect every business in the Commonwealth we're going to inform, educate, and then advocate on behalf of businesses so we can affect positive change," said Boronski, who described her start-up venture as a logical next stepfor the state and for her from a professional-development standpoint.

"I've been in this position for 10 years now," she said of her work with the ACCGS. "I'm ready for a new and bigger challenge."

Jeffrey Albright believes that a state chamber can succeed in Massachusetts, primarily because he's seen such an organization work effectively in another Northeast industrial state. He's member executive of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry, an entity that has been in place since 1916, and currently represents members in all 67 of the state's counties.

Albright told BusinessWest that while local and federal legislation certainly affects business owners, the most impactful proposals usually emerge on the state level. And the PA Chamber, as his agency is called, provides what he described as a "unified voice" on the 'Hill.'

"The reason all organizations form is to take advantage of the collective power, strength, and unity of the group," he said. "Numbers speak; this is clout, this is influence. When we go to the Hill we can tell legislators just how many people we have in each of those legislative districts that they represent and we can tell them what these people are thinking about the issues they're voting on.

"You might have some local chambers that have very close relationships with their legislators," he continued, referring to his state. "But quite frankly, when you take that number to the Hill and try to get something passed, let's see how well you do. Without the support of other legislators, you're not going to get anything accomplished."

Boronski, who will leave the ACCGS in early February, said she expects the MassCBI will provide a similar, unified voice. Explaining how such a statewide chamber operates, and how it works to complement smaller chambers, not compete with them, is part of a broad education process that she has already embarked on. This assignment will continue for some time, she told BusinessWest, and eventually take her from Williamstown to Nantucket.

"You eat an elephant one bite at a time," she said of her plans to take the MassCBI to every corner of the state. "I'm going to take this one bite one city or town or region at a time."

Chamber Music

As he talked about the PA Chamber, what it does, and how it works, Albright made frequent use of that word 'clout.'

He said that this is what his group provides to roughly 24,000 members (those who pay dues) and customers (those who don't but participate in chamber-sponsored programs and events). And this clout comes from a combination of that number and the word 'chamber,' which carries a good amount of weight, especially with elected officials.

With its size and clout, the PA Chamber is able to help level the playing field in a state where the Southwest (Pittsburgh area) and Southeast (Philadelphia and its suburbs) quadrants are well-represented, but most other areas feel neglected, he said.

"What we try to do as a state chamber is enlarge the pie, from an economic development standpoint, and see that everyone gets a slice," he explained. "First and foremost, what we do is advocacy we're the voice of the business community."

Enlarging the pie is one way to describe what Boronski wants to accomplish with the MassCBI, and she said her experience with the ACCGS provided some inspiration for her venture in the form of ample evidence that there is indeed strength in numbers.

She said that through affiliation with the ACCGS, smaller chambers have access to information, expertise, lobbyists, and programs. But even the affiliated chambers are limited in what they can do because of their size and specific geographic focus, so she wants to take that model to a much wider stage - the entire state.