2012 Chamber Ambassadors
To help address the challenges of member acquisition and retention, the Chamber is proud to present the Membership Committee. This Committee is co-chaired by Susan Hepner of RAFFA PC and Mark Rothman of Myta Corp.
The Membership Committee and its Ambassador Program, was designed to be another connection for new members of the Chamber. Our Ambassadors are a source of information and expertise for our new members as they become a part of the DC Chamber of Commerce. These Ambassadors are an invaluable resource to our new members as they attend Chamber events with our new members and introduce and integrate our new members into the Chamber family. Our Ambassadors additionally aid the Chamber in creating awareness in the business community of the Chamber’s many benefits and helping in member recruitment activities. Our Ambassadors represent a diverse cross section of our membership, from small companies to large, across a wide range of sectors.
Our 2012 Chamber Ambassadors are:
Bryce Coffee, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
Charlene Davis, Cardinal Bank
David Gooch, Kelly Benefit Strategies
Arya Parvizi, M & T Bank
Tim Robinson, Vantage Point Solutions
Adeep Sandhu, M & T Bank
Justin Silvers, EagleBank
Sydnee Stein, EagleBank
Barry Wright, Newmark Knight Frank
Amy Yendall, Payroll Networks
Diane Yochelson, Peak Impact
This Committee meets once a month.
The DC Chamber’s Government Affairs department is one of the most valuable resources that the DC Chamber makes available to its members. It is our job to go to bat, so-to-speak, for the District of Columbia’s business community. In 2011, the Government Affairs committee will be co-chaired by Ed Krauze of the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors and Roger “J.R.” Clark, Partner with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP.
This year, the Government Affairs committee is committed to monitoring all legislation proposed by the Executive and Legislative branches of the DC Government in order to anticipate business community impact. This committee will also make recommendations to the Chamber’s Executive Committee on the position we should take. In a joint effort with other Chamber committees, this committee aims to propose two (2) pieces of legislation for introduction that will aggressively make doing business in DC a much better proposition.
On an annual basis, the DC Chamber facilitates a Legislative Policy Forum (generally in the first quarter). This committee will work with the Chamber staff to develop programming and fundraising for this event. It is the Chamber’s practice at the Annual Meeting Luncheon to produce a “State of the Business in the District of Columbia” report (in the fourth quarter). The Government Affairs Committee will also work with the Chamber staff to compile and publish this report.
This committee's schedule is being finalized, but they plan to meet monthly.
As we all know, in this economic climate coming up with funding can be a real challenge. In order to better address the funding challenges for our flagship events, the Chamber’s Development Committee is focused on meeting the revenue goals for the Chamber’s major events.
This committee is chaired by A. Scott Bolden, Partner at Reed Smith, LLP. Under his leadership, the committee will take the lead on fund development for the Policy Forum, Business Summit Small Business Awards & Expo, Chamber’s Choice Awards Gala, and the Annual Meeting Luncheon.
This committee's schedule is currently being finalized. Currently they plan to meet monthly via conference call and in person on a quarterly basis.
