Chamber Eagerly Takes Regional Role

Since Spokane is a town of many small businesses, the Chamber of Commerce likes to feature some of them — but usually not a tatoo parlor.

However, that was the case at Wednesday’s annual meeting.

A clever video scene depicted a business owner, new to the area, entering a local tatoo shop and asking for “something hot, really hot.”

The smiling artist accommodated the request by applying the artwork on the businessman’s arm. The tattoo was the new logo from the newly named Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The “swirling S” logo design features a central oval with three rows of lines top and bottom, which, the chamber says, “curve into the center in an energetic, positive movement.”

The idea is that the logo “positions the Spokane Chamber as a center of business activity.”

How many of the chamber’s 1,700 members will get their own permanent logo tattoos?

Probably not many, although Chamber CEO Rich Hadley could get one and proudly display his logo leadership next month when he ascends to the top post in a national organization of chamber executives.

As the speakers at Wednesday’s annual meeting noted, actions speak louder than words — and logos.

But it usually takes well-crafted words to spur action, and eloquence was in abundance Wednesday.

Talking about people and communities in the region working collaboratively, outgoing chairwoman JoAnn Matthiesen said, “Our role is not to straighten each other out, but to help each other up.”

Matthiesen, retiring soon as an Avista Corp. vice president, spent a busy, productive year helping the chamber refocus on four strategies — down from eight (what she called organizational “mission creep”), leading the charge to collaboration with other chambers and a new emphasis on regional issues.

Incoming chairman Bill Robinson, the Whitworth College president, said the presidents of all five area colleges (GU, WSU, EWU, Whitworth and the Community Colleges of Spokane) “have a wonderful collaboration” and all want to get involved in economic development.

Robinson recalled his experiences in Indiana more than a decade ago, as higher education helped build a pro-business environment. “We do not want to stand back and act condescending. We want to be full partners,” Robinson said.

Indeed, new WSU President Lane Rawlins attended both the Spokane Chamber’s annual meeting and the Valley Chamber’s annual meeting Sept. 12. When the Valley’s keynote speaker, Attorney General Christine Gregoire, was delayed by a late-arriving flight, Rawlins even volunteered to substitute as speaker. Admirable action and words.

From his earlier time at WSU, Rawlins no doubt remembers the contentious “turf wars” era, when some area schools were more competitive than collaborative.

But in this new era of cooperation and inclusiveness, it appears the partnership of the business and academic worlds can bear much fruit. It’s also important to keep the University of Idaho and North Idaho College in that loop.

A full partnership between education and business is imperative for Spokane’s information-age success. So is regional cooperation.

At the Valley Chamber’s meeting, incoming chairman Dick Denenny also talked about the importance of maintaining a regional perspective and areawide cooperation.

In another mixture of symbolism and semantics Wednesday, the Spokane Chamber’s featured speaker was Wayne Williams, president and CEO of Telect, the fast-growing beacon among the technology firms at Liberty Lake. Telect, which has 1,940 employees worldwide, is deeply rooted in the Spokane Valley.

But Williams joined the rally for regionalism.

“I’m not here to talk about the Spokane Valley - or downtown, the North Side or Coeur d’Alene,” Williams said. “It is the region, our communities where all of us live and work and raise our families that’s important.

“As a Spokane company with operations around the world, I can say that Spokane is spectacular,” he said.

He asked the crowd of 1,200 at the Ag Trade Center, “do I sound too Pollyanish?” But Williams said business and the community must work together in positive ways because “we have difficult challenges to overcome.”

As with Telect, Williams said, “we must build on our legacy. We have moved from an old economy to a new economy,” and leadership will be key “to create an environment for growth.”

Williams set just the right tone in closing his comments with some questions all of Spokane - business, government, even the citizenry - and the region should reflect on:

“Am I a purpose-driven leader for the region?

“Are my interests self-motivated or community-minded?

“Can I set aside the conflicts of the past and seek congruency?

“What can I do, personally, to quietly improve the negative and loudly ring the bell of Spokane (and the region’s) success?”

Wayne’s world seeks positive, forward-looking, constructive change. He and his parents have made that happen at Telect.

With a new name, a new logo and, in recent years, a new attitude, the Chamber - along with the other communities in the region - have the same challenge.