Last Friday, the Jefferson Chamber surpassed the 1,000 member mark, making it one of the top five largest independent chambers of commerce in Louisiana.
Under new leadership since June, 2012, the business organization has gone through re-branding, intense strategic planning and an efficient reorganization and alignment of its staff and volunteer committees.
According to Todd Murphy, Jefferson Chamber President, the result has been a major increase in top level investors, better engagement and retention of current members, and the development of a strong collaboration with other business advocacy groups around the region. Murphy says that through embracing technology and expanding traditional and online communications, they have been able to reach out and serve both small and large businesses better.
The push to 1,000 members came from an intensive three-day membership campaign where 178 chamber volunteers poured in and out of the Iberia Bank Training Center in Metairie, passionately making phone calls to their clients and colleagues. Their efforts brought in 200 new members.
Helping the Chamber gain 22 new members in less than three hours, Jamie Giorgio of Buisson Creative Strategies said that she “just couldn’t say no to such an important effort to help our community.”
“The bigger our Jefferson Chamber becomes, the bigger our voice becomes in leading policy making in Baton Rouge and D.C., which will aid in the growth and prosperity of Jefferson Parish,” Giorgio said.
“Our Board of Directors works tirelessly to do what most people think just happens, because it is supposed to happen,” Murphy said. “This influx of new members not only raises our profile, but our ability to enhance business opportunities.”
According to the Chamber’s database, current membership represents 1,008 businesses and over 50,000 full-time employees in the Greater New Orleans Region. The recent growth comes on the heels of the Chamber achieving 4-Star Accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, ranking them in the top 150 chambers in the nation. This Accreditation process included a rigorous application and review process on nine imperative business categories.
