(WNY News Now) The CHQ Chamber Annual Meeting focused on strengthening collaborations and adopting innovative ideas, emphasizing the value of regional prosperity and community cooperation.
The main lessons learned from Friday’s CHQ Chamber Annual Meeting were forming alliances, concentrating on the task at hand, and experimenting.
Chamber President & CEO Daniel Heitzenrater gave a brief summary of the ambitious timetable that the CHQ Chamber had accomplished during the previous year in front of a packed crowd at the White Inn in Fredonia. His remarks focused on focussing on the Chamber’s mission statement, which is to support our local businesses in Chautauqua County, establish essential relationships, and offer professional tools. In 2024, the CHQ Chamber carried on a significant rebranding initiative in response to the strategic plan that had been approved the year before. Creating alliances and expanding partnerships is one of the plan’s main principles.
Amy Rohler, Executive Director of the United Way of Chautauqua County, received the 2024 Pam Lydic Coalition Builder Award from the Chamber in recognition of her efforts to combine the two United Ways into a single merger agreement. “You don’t do these things alone and you don’t do them in one year,” Ms. Rohler said in her acceptance speech, thanking the boards and community volunteers who helped in the process.
“We need more community building, more partnerships, and more collaboration,” she continued. These are the factors that will bring about constructive change in this situation.
Leslie Zemsky, the keynote speaker and vice president of Buffalo’s Larkin Development Group, described the massive neighborhood makeover her family’s business has accomplished and noted that it was an unconventional development strategy.
The Larkin Soap Company, which established the benchmark for mail order business in the US at the time, was formerly based in Larkinville, as it is now known. Long-vacant manufacturing and warehouse spaces have been restored and rehabilitated by the family-run business, which has transformed the neighborhood into a mixed-use area with offices, eateries, shops, and residences in addition to a number of facilities for both employees and residents, such as a cafeteria, fitness center, and daycare. Additionally, it hosts Food Truck Tuesdays and the well-liked Larkin Square concert series every Wednesday throughout the summer, which draw thousands of visitors.
Zemsky pointed out that the family firm has taken a very personal approach to the neighborhood’s redevelopment and has been completely focused on it.
Four new members were chosen to the Board of Directors by the Chamber’s membership. They are Monica Simpson of Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth and the chair of the Dunkirk Committee; Dawn Espersen of Dave’s Outlet Store and the chair of the Hanover Committee; Kim Maras of Westfield Boatworks and the chair of the Westfield Committee; and Jon Davis of Ashville General Store. Chair Heather Brown from The Resource Center, Vice Chair Emily Reynolds from Cornell Cooperative Extension, Treasurer John Felton from Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union, and Secretary Courtney Curatolo from JCC’s Small Business Development Center continue to lead the board. Additional board members include Vicki McGraw, chair of the Elegant Edibles Catering and Jamestown committee; Arthur Pearson, chair of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute; Brian Pender, chair of the Northlake Development and Mayville committee; Dr. Stephen Kolison, SUNY Fredonia; Kristofor Sellstrom, chair of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities; and Larry Fiorella, chair of the HBKS Wealth Management and Fredonia committee.
Brooks-TLC Hospital System/Kaleida Health, the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency, Jamestown Community College, LaBella Associates, Media One Radio Group, Observer, and The Post-Journal were the sponsors of the CHQ Chamber Annual Meeting.