Below is an auto-generated transcription of my conversation with Marc Cohen. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
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Introduction
Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Voiceover Talent 0:14
And now your host. He is happy to see so many conferences going back to in person. He’s my dad Brandon Burton.
Brandon Burton 0:22
Hello Chamber Champions. Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host Brandon Burton, where it is my goal to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your members and your community.
Our title sponsor is Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions. Let’s hear from Matt Morrow, President and CEO of the Springfield Area Chamber in Missouri to learn how the Holman Brothers provided value to his chamber.
Matt Morrow 0:47
Holman Brothers provide a great training for our sales team in terms of just outstanding sales techniques. But maybe even more importantly than that, they were able to provide us with a system a process that was repeatable, and in that we’re able to see very clearly from one month to the next how the how the pipeline is doing, what prospects are in it, what kind of progress we’re making and what we can do to coach people to success.
Brandon Burton 1:09
You can learn more about Holman Brothers Membership Sales Solutions by visiting HolmanBros.com.
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that knowledge to work for you and your chamber. Learn more at HolmanBros.com.
Guest Introduction
Our guest for this episode is Marc Cohen. Marc is the Chief of Staff at the Greater Rochester Chamber in New York. Marc became the chief of staff at the Greater Rochester chamber in December 2018. In his role, he directly oversees government relations, Legislative Affairs advocacy, and as the primary policy adviser to the Rochester chamber CEO Robert J. Duffy. Marc is charged with identifying process improvement opportunities, best practices cost saving measures, working with partners to promote and enhance regional workforce and economic development efforts. Serving as Mr. Duffy’s and the Rochester chambers representative at outside forums, and on community work groups and overseeing the daily operations of the chamber executive office. Marc serves on a variety of boards in his community. He also serves as an EMT with Brighton ambulance and as a 2021 Rochester Business Journal 40 under 40 recipient, Marc grew up in Amherst, New York, and graduated Summa Kumada from the University of Alberni. While at the University of Albany, Marc worked as a research fellow in the Office of the Provost, and co authored the book diversity at college real stories of students conquering bias and making higher education more inclusive. The book was named as a finalist for the 2020 foreword indies award, and was chosen as a silver winner of the 2021 distinguished favorites of the independent press awards. That Marc, I am happy to have you with me today on Chamber Chat Podcast, I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the Chamber Champions that are out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
Something Interesting About Marc
Marc Cohen 3:03
Well, Brandon, I want to thank you for this incredible podcast that you do. I’m a fan of yours. And I think that your efforts to connect chambers of commerce and staff in this way is really outstanding. You pretty much took all the wind out of my sails with that bio, there’s nothing else about myself. That’s it. I mean, I I’ll tell you, I sat behind Contestants Row at the prices right and I shouted out answers, you know, to the to the contestants, as they were guessing and for our show, the one that we were that we were at when it was recording. The person went all the way to the to the big prize and they won they won the whole show. So I guess in some way, that’s that’s an interesting fact about me.
Brandon Burton 3:39
Did they invite you on their vacation with you too, for helping them out?
Marc Cohen 3:43
You know, you know, they didn’t and they also want a boat and I haven’t gotten a trip on the boat yet, but that’s alright, I’m not too sour about it. There were only like 1000 Other people shouting things. Alright.
Brandon Burton 3:53
So fun fact on prices, right? Totally off topic, but it’s pretty cool. My wife’s uncle was on prices right in the late 80s. And he won the whole Showcase Showdown. You know, the car the whole that is so cool. Yeah, the whole thing, the whole shebang. And that Bob is just about four months ago, he was on it again. And did it again. He won the all Showcase Showdown for a second time. It was like 28 years later, some 30 years later. I don’t know what the exact timing was. But the whole thing was to cars and the trip and boat and everything the whole shot. So it was pretty cool. They were showing his footage from the 80s. And he was on it. And in the 80s I think when he spun the wheel, he got $1. Exactly. And then this second time I think he ended up with 90 cents but still, yeah, he’s got the special touch but that’s you got that.
Marc Cohen 4:49
He’s got that special quality. That’s a great I think I can’t think of a better way for you to start your show. Isn’t that
Brandon Burton 4:54
Yeah. Totally unrelated but it’s fun. So tell us A little bit about the Rochester chamber is the size location budget staff just to kind of give us an idea of kind of the perspective you’re coming from is when are discussions for today?
About the Greater Rochester Chamber
Marc Cohen 5:11
Sure. So Greater Rochester Chamber is a Metro Chamber of Commerce. So we represent the nine county Finger Lakes region in upstate New York. Your listeners probably know the Finger Lakes for its outstanding wine. And we are known for many, many other things as well. But we are larger Chamber of Commerce, we have 1300 members. We are located our headquarters, our physical building is in downtown Rochester, New York in the in the sort of urban core. And our staff is about 30 people. Something unique about our chamber is that we’ve got the chamber of commerce side. So we’ve got our membership office and the Communications Office and the policy office and you know, those folks, but we also have a staffing division, and a screening division. So a member calls us and says, Hey, I need 50 temporary employees, we hire them as our employees, and then we we sort of staff them out to the various folks who need them. So in that way, we’re sort of our for profit size as a staffing agency. So that’s known as RBA, staffing and screening. We also do background checks for, for employers for tenants for tenant screening. And we have found that it’s a great way to what to earn revenue so that the chamber can continue doing the great things that we do. But it’s also a really great service to to the community at large, especially at a time, and I’m sure we’ll talk about this a little later. But when, at least for us, the number one issue we hear from, from business leaders is access to talent. So we can say not only do we support workforce development and talent, strategy and theory and you know, by supporting various initiatives, we are literally doing it every single day, we’ve got placement specialists who are putting people in jobs, supporting our members, supporting businesses in the community, in the most direct way possible. So our chamber is a full service Chamber of Commerce. And you know, we are we’re really proud of our membership and our staff loves what, what they do. And I certainly love what I do.
Brandon Burton 7:12
I love that idea of of having the staffing agency there on hand to really give that support to your members. That’s a great idea. And hopefully one that other chambers can think hey, that’s that’s good idea. Let me explore that. Yeah. So is it all full time employment placement? Or do you do temp arrangements at all? Or how does that set up?
Marc Cohen 7:35
It’s great question we do. And by the way, you’re helping me out because our director of staffing services is going to love me for this for this free publicity that she’s getting in her team. But no, we do. We do temporary placements, and then a lot of temp to perm. We do direct placements to so for the higher level C suite officials, C suite officers or middle management level officers, we will place them directly. And it’s you know, it’s interesting, like I said, it’s our VA staffing and screening. And if you look at our website, see the jobs that are posted. I mean, we post for veterinarians and dieticians. And, you know, and then the day laborer, you know, sort of manufacturing jobs and everything in between. I mean, it’s crazy, the, you know, the scope of the folks who reached out to us, we do a lot of work with our healthcare systems, in helping them to place to place workers, which again, in the wake of COVID-19, has been crucial. And so it’s, it’s every level of employment every length of time of employment. And, and it’s it’s a really, really impressive operation that that our team leads and again, folks are finding that, especially now before it was great, and it was important, and we, you know, did a lot of good in the community. But especially now, when COVID-19 has, you know, wrought havoc on businesses in every way be able to sort of be a one stop shop to help them to recover and build back stronger. Is is outstanding.
Brandon Burton 9:05
That is a very unique offering that you guys have there. And we could we could spend the whole episode diving in deep on it and maybe we will in the future. I think that’s a great, great topic to dive into. But for our discussion today we’ll focus more on the role of chambers it as it comes to advocacy and policy. And we will jump into that discussion as soon as I get back from this quick break.
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Topic-Role of Chambers in Advocacy and Policy
Alright, Marc, we are back. So as we look at the role of chambers in advocacy and policy. I know some chambers are a little hesitant maybe to get their feet wet in this topic in this arena. But I’d love for you to kind of take from your perspective how you add this to the value proposition there in Rochester. And keeping in mind, you know, the chambers listening who maybe don’t have a formal role in advocacy, how things can apply to them and how they can get involved in in advocacy and policy in their communities?
Marc Cohen 12:18
It’s a great question. And it’s an excellent topic, and you’re going to probably have to cut me off 10 or 15 times because I can talk for hours about sort of the role of this, but I’ll do my best, you know, I know brevity is key. So the role of chambers in advocacy and in policy is is one that might not be immediately obvious, but but is really interesting. And it’s something that any chamber can do. So as a Metro Chamber, we have members who join and our membership team is second to none. And they’ll be asked why do you want to join? You know, what, what is interesting to you about the greater Rochester chamber and sometimes people say, You know what, I just I really want to do networking events. And I want you know, the spaghetti dinners in the, you know, the, you know, go out to a bar and get a drink ticket and just kind of chat with people. And that’s an amazing sort of role of a chamber of commerce, it’s not really what we do. So we have something like 30 to 40 local chambers within our footprint. And we have no problem. And you know, our membership team, like I said a second to none, but they’re also just remarkably ethical. They have no problem saying, You know what, that’s not really what we do, right? We don’t do those weekly mixers. And we do it every once in a while, but sort of what the what your mainstream chambers will do. So we will refer them to wherever town or city they’re in, will refer them to their chambers and say, Hey, we have great partnerships with these local chambers, definitely join them, because that’s sort of what you’re looking for. When people approach us and say, look, the reason I want to join is because I need a voice to help me advocate for a policy that would be very helpful for my business, or advocate against the policy that would be detrimental to my business. It’s sort of one of our wheel houses. And and I’ll talk a little bit about that, you know, when at the state, county, local, or other state county, you know, and local levels and federal levels, we are approached about a policy issue or about, you know, a particular statute or you know, sort of red tape bureaucracy that adversely impacts a business or that will support a business. We have the relationships to help right and, and legislation can be daunting legislation can can be difficult to read. legalese is not, you know, is not always the most reader friendly. But the spirit of the legislation is probably well known, and chambers of commerce are incredibly well positioned to advocate for or against a policy because of who they represent. They represent a constituency that would be impacted by that policy. And so, I’m going to end my rant on that first question here and just saying that, you know, while we are lucky to have a staff that can, you know, read through pick apart And then you know, establish advocacy plans based on individual pieces of legislation or based on legislation packages, any local chamber of commerce with even just an all volunteer staff, all volunteer board, one part time staff, they can come together with their businesses, and submit a letter to the legislature, to the governor, to the county executive to the mayor, and just say, hey, look, we know this legislation is out there, we don’t want to 100% know, every aspect of it, but I’m telling you that based on what we do know, it’s really harmful, or it’s really helpful. And we, you know, we want to use our voice to, you know, to speak in favor or against against that policy. So, I got all wound up there, Brandon, I’m sorry, no, it’s gone. The introduction to it is so
Brandon Burton 15:43
in a couple of different thoughts on this, so I had Brad Hicks on the podcast back in episode 143. From Oregon, and he was talking about advocacy and, and how important it is for chambers, really of any size to to advocate for pro business policies, pro business candidates, and, and I know it can be a sticky topic for some chambers. They don’t want to get into it because they don’t want to offend anybody. But being able to look at had a policy and say this is going to help business or this is going to hurt business based on those constituents that you’re representing, I think is so important and vital. Do there at being a Regional Chamber, do you guys work with some of the smaller local chambers to help gather support and input from their members to take to the state level or national level? In some cases?
Marc Cohen 16:40
We do. And you brought up a point, I’ll answer that question. And I want to go back to the point about sometimes it getting sticky, because it’s really important. And maybe some, you know, some tips of how to navigate that. But we do so we created the greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce created something called the Advocacy Coalition of Rochester area chambers. So it’s at crack, which is just the, you know, an acronym we sort of put together. And we started it as just a super informal gathering of local Chambers from actually the Finger Lakes region and the southern tier. And Rochester just being sort of a larger city in our region, we chose to include that in the name for for advocacy sake, and sort of to catch the eye of elected officials. But what started as a super loosely, sort of arranged group of people talking about policy turned into a real advocacy group. And so we will hear from, you know, one of our local chambers, and I don’t want to shout out names, because there are so many, they’re also grateful to hear from a local chamber, who said, hey, you know, what we’re hearing from a lot of members, that exe is a real problem. And then another local chamber will chime in, in the email and say, You know what, we’re hearing that too. So we’ve got five or six, and rather than a chamber with 87 members, or a chamber with 112, or chamber with, you know, 500, we can all come together and say, we represent collectively 1000s of businesses, we are opposed to this, we are supportive of this, this will hurt, this will help. If this will hurt, here’s how you can adjust it, here’s how you can tweak it, and we’ve made impactful change. I mean, legislators reach out and say, Hey, we saw your letter of support, we saw your letter of opposition, you know, what can we do to make this better what we do to help get this passed. And it just, it’s really cool that sort of that we were able to do that. And I say we not the greater Rochester chamber, but we the coalition of you know, of the, you know, 15 to 20 active chambers involved in the group. So that’s been a really great thing and a cool way, maybe for Metro chambers who are listening or State Chambers who are listening to engage the more sort of local grassroots, you know, organizations regarding the stickiness. Oh, go ahead.
Brandon Burton 18:52
No, I was just going to just mention that hopefully, most smaller chambers are part of some regional or state coalition, as far as advocacy goes, just to voice a opinion of their members. I hope that’s happening. But I wanted to put a little bit of attention on this, because I know, there’s been a lot of turnover in the Chamber Leadership in the last year or two. So if somebody is new to chamber work, and they need to get their feet wet, NAFTA See, that’s a good way to do it is to find out on a regional level or state level, is there, an organization that you can, you know, tag on with and be a part of to help represent the businesses in your community? So thank you for talking to that.
Marc Cohen 19:34
No, it is and you know, I’ll say we, as you know, a Metro Chamber are part of the Business Council of New York State, that’s our state chapter and my boss who we have a little bit of an advantage in terms of advocacy. My boss served as Mayor of the City of Rochester and then it Lieutenant Governor of the state of New York. And so the relationships that he’s been able to forge have been helpful for our members and, and for the region as a whole The various boards that he sits on help to shed light on issues that are critically important to the entire regional economy. So we are privileged in that way. You know, but But to your point, you know, he sits on the Business Council of New York State’s board, he sits on the council of 100, for the US Chamber of Commerce board. So, you know, we understand the importance of connecting to our larger associations, right, affiliating with our larger, you know, parent, if you will, parent organizations. And, and we agree that, you know, local chambers, should engage with Metro chambers, and there ought not be and I know, there are, but there ought not be turf wars in terms of who’s got the members and who’s collecting the revenue, but rather, recognize that we’re all in this for the same reason, the spirit is the same. Sometimes the capacity is just different because of the various, you know, financial or resource, you know, positions that folks find themselves in. But no, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Brandon Burton 20:53
Yeah. So go ahead and touch on the point as far as it being a Sticky, sticky topic for some people to to wander into.
Marc Cohen 21:03
It’s such a good question. And it’s one, you know, with which we’ve grappled as well. So advocacy comes in many forms, right? So there is everything from you got a chamber that’s got 46 members, and, you know, their dues are $25 a year and their dues dollars go to, you know, one annual letter and maybe one dinner, great. And that’s, that’s a perfectly great way to set up a chamber of commerce. And they can advocate just like any other can, by doing something as is, you know, seemingly simple as writing a letter making a phone call meeting asking for their local town council member or county legislator supervisor, you know, for a meeting state legislator, to discuss an issue that’s important. And then obviously goes all the way up to having a political action committee. So the Chamber of Commerce has a political action committee, which is not part of the chamber, right. It’s a separate entity. But you know, so we don’t have, you know, a majority of our board members on it, it’s it’s sort of an independent body, our CEO is not on it, there’s no chamber staff representation on the committee, but it bears our name. And our members support it, and our members contribute to it. And our pack interviews and endorses candidates. And so that’s just political, you know, as it can get right where you’re interviewing. And we’re bipartisan, we endorse Democrats and Republicans proudly. And, you know, and interview based on issues versus based on party. And we’ve got really diverse and great representation on the pack, to ensure that the voice of large and small businesses, that’s the voice of diverse businesses and minority and women owned businesses and veteran owned businesses, that all of that is brought to the table. But it is still inherently a political process to political action committee. So. So you know, we’ve we’ve gotten, you know, from time to time, questions about how you maintain relationships, and it’s a, I say, simple answer. It’s by conducting interviews and conducting endorsements and an ethical, fair and honest way, which we always do. And it’s by ensuring that, you know, you maintain a degree of separation, where, you know, our staff is advocating for members based on the feedback that we get, we get an email from a member saying, Senate Bill x is going to be really, really helpful for us. And we’re hoping you can help us to find a state assembly sponsor, and that you can help to advocate to the Governor to sign the bill. That’s great. And then we put together memos of support. And the same thing is if it’s opposed, working with, you know, our federal representatives, and Senators Schumer, and Gillibrand, and congressmen rally, you know, who represent us on the federal level and letting them know where we stand on various issues, where our members stand on various issues. It’s not rocket science and legislation and government is so again, daunting, and it’s, you know, can be wrought with bureaucracy and red tape and confusion. But if you kind of push all of that aside, and realize, wait a minute, this is just an issue of, you know, another mandate on businesses, I don’t know. And I don’t know the history of it. I don’t know the future of it. I don’t know who’s in favor who’s opposed. I don’t want any of that. What I know is that I have 46 members, and that one of them, or four of them, or all of them don’t like this new mandate. It’s my job now to go out and call my legislator and just say, Hey, I don’t have a big operation. But I’m telling you that my membership is opposed to this. And, and the impact that something like that can have is so massive, and that’s not political at all. That’s not sticky at all. It’s not because a Democrat or Republican, you know, proposed it, it’s because it’s a helpful or a harmful policy, and you’re doing what your membership wants you to do.
Brandon Burton 24:39
That’s right. And if you can imagine, you know, a handful of chambers across the state calling their representatives saying this is good or bad for our business, that it gets the attention of those elected officials who are representing you. That’s right. That that’s really what it boils down to. I think we’re people tend to shy away from getting into the politics side, because they feel like they might lose certain sponsors, certain members, if they endorse, you know, one policy or another. And really, it just it comes down to what’s what’s going to be best for business is what it really boils down to.
Marc Cohen 25:19
It does. And if I just had one more piece of advice, I would I would offer this there is a school of thought that in order to successfully advocate, you have to hold a press conference, you have to pound your fist on a podium, and you have to yell at people and be angry, and, and, you know, call people liars. And, you know, you’re a liberal, you’re conservative, you’re terrible, you’re awful we Stanford’s, and you know what you might get some really good press out of that every outlet in your community or in the state might come and listen to you. And that’s fine. You know, my boss has a saying that politicians have a memory of about 30 to 40 years, you know, if you offend these elected officials, they’re not going to forget, you know, maybe in 40 years, they’ll forget, but they’re not going to forget, if you try to make something political, if you try to embarrass them, or force them into a corner, it’s not going to go well. But if you write a letter you’re being you can have a strong language as you want. You write a letter, you send it to them, you don’t then post that letter on Facebook or Instagram or, you know, other social media, but rather send them the letter, you know, ask them that you’d like a response, and have a conversation with them sort of behind the scenes behind closed doors, where you’re advocating in the best interest of your constituency, but you’re not doing it in a in a, you know, in a way to try and garner attention, you’re doing it in a way to be constructive and productive, you will be successful. And even if I say you’ll be successful, because even if you don’t get your way on that piece of legislation, that elected official or that, you know, leader in their, in their office, the staff member will appreciate that you didn’t try and embarrass them or try and force them, but rather just tried to have a dialogue and in the future, eventually, you will absolutely, you will absolutely, you know, get wins. And they’ll start to look to you for advice on policies so that you can get in at the ground level and be proactive versus reactive.
Brandon Burton 26:59
I love that. And I think by approaching it from behind the scenes behind the closed doors, it’s a way where even if that elected official has some kind of preconceived notion of what the chamber represents or what they do. It really takes it to more of a level ground, kind of that same center, where you’re not in there to play politics, where you’re saying this is what’s best for our organization for the members of our chamber. And it really takes the divisiveness out of out of politics. So I love that typically,
Marc Cohen 27:31
right? Yes, exactly. Right. And, you know, I don’t know how we’re looking on time. But I have one more I have one more suggestion if we have time
Brandon Burton 27:38
for Yes, please.
Marc Cohen 27:39
So there is a lower there is an attractiveness to meeting with the principal right to meeting with the governor and the lieutenant governor to meeting with the Congress member to meeting, you know, with whomever it is right, because you want to be in front of them. I worked in Albany, I worked for my boss when he was lieutenant governor, I worked for our now Governor Cathy Hoko, when she was lieutenant governor, I have seen how advocacy works firsthand. These elected officials, everybody from our state assembly members to state senators, to county legislators, they are taking meetings like crazy, they meet with so many people in a day, you get your 10 or 15 minutes. And I’m not saying they’re not listening to you because they are and I’m sure they care, and I’m sure they’re great. But in order to be effective, you don’t have to meet with the principal. In fact, I would say that when I advocate, I often get further by meeting with their staff, their chief of staff, their legislative director, or legislative assistant, you know, a constituent Relations Director, because these are the folks whose job is day in and day out to be behind the scenes to be the person behind the person to help them get things done. So whereas you’ve got the principal who absolutely takes time to meet with constituents, but also has to take time to vote on bills, and also has to take time to do media and do fundraisers and do all of the other sorts of things that they have to do. If you can get in the ear of a staff member, not only are they more likely to probably give it more attention again, not because the legislator or the elected official won’t, but because it’s the staff member sole job to do that. If you can get them on your side, if you can get them to see your way. You might get five or 10 minutes with them, you know, you might even get five or 10 minutes with the elected officials themselves. These staff members are what the elected officials 10 hours a day. So if you can get one of these staff members on your side and get them to support your position, they will hammer away at that elected official day in and day out until the official sees it the staff members way which is also your way. Right. So my piece of advice is ask for a member with a meeting with the member or the elected official. Do it absolutely. Because it’s great to get a picture and put it on social media and show your members what you’re doing. But don’t discount the importance of meeting with staff as well because oftentimes staff are the ones who can help you to get it done. And you’ll find a lot of success in doing that.
Brandon Burton 29:51
That’s right. And the thought that came to me with as far as meeting with the staff is if you can turn your advocacy efforts into creating an advocate You know, in the office there, the staff member that you win, you know, that’s awesome.
Marc Cohen 30:05
That is exactly where I’m gonna steal that now. So all of your listeners will know that I stole that from you. But that’s all right. But but others won’t that’s, that is a perfect way to put it. Yeah.
Brandon Burton 30:15
Well as we are kind of getting short on time, I do want to ask you what would be maybe one, I mean, you just gave a great tip, but I was asked for one tip or action item for listeners that they can do to, to help take their chambers up to the next level.
Action Item/Tip for Chamber Champions
Marc Cohen 30:31
I want any chamber listening who’s not already doing it, to go on Google type in who is my representative, whatever the first, you know, the first site that pops up is click on that type in your address or the address of your business or your chamber. Whoever it says is your elected leader or the various leaders, pick one of them, send them a note, tell them who you are, tell them that you’d love to show that you are a resource for them the community that you represent businesses that you care about, that you care about sort of the future of the economy of your region, your city, your state, and see what they say. And I will bet you I bet you a cup of coffee next time any of your listeners are in Rochester, New York, and any of them who can prove me wrong. I bet them a cup of coffee in Rochester wherever they want that or glass of wine, that they will get a response. And not only do they get a response, but they’ll have earned a friend because the legislator, elected official staff member who responds to them will appreciate that they took the time to reach out. Hey, my name is Marc Cohen, I’m with the greater Rochester chamber. I value advocacy and I value my role in advocating for constituency, I’d love to talk to you about the state of the the economy, the state of the business community in insert city. Have a great day, Marc Cohen. Every one of your listeners should do that. If they’re not already. And I bet you they’ll find really, really great success.
Brandon Burton 31:54
Absolutely. It sets the table for good common ground and to be able to vote to establish a good relationship. I love that. Rafi right? Yeah. So yeah. As we look to the future of chambers, how do you see the future chambers and their purpose going forward?
Future of Chambers
Marc Cohen 32:11
You know, you and I were talking about this a little bit, you know, pre show, I think we want people to understand the spirit and the value of chambers of commerce in the community, right? So not necessarily, you know, quantitatively what I get for this, I pay you $50? And do you send me a coupon for a cookie every year like, not, not like that, but understand that the value of chambers comes from who we are and what we do and how we represent businesses and nonprofits, and again, our members in the community. That’s what I would love. And I hope that you know, there are larger businesses who are headquartered in various cities who continue to appreciate that, you know, here, we’ve got paychecks, and Constellation Brands, and Wegmans and massive companies who very rarely need something from even a Metro Chamber of Commerce, but they believe in us in our mission and our spirit. So that is what I hope now, here’s the reality. I do believe not just because I’m biased, because it’s my portfolio. But I believe that the future of chambers especially now is in advocating for their constituents and advocating for nonprofits in the business community advocating for policies that will drive the economy. And the last thing, which you’ll have to have me back at some point, so we can talk about workforce development, but the role of chambers of commerce in talent strategy and helping businesses to find the employees they need, so that they can grow and expand and flourish within their community. So I think that sort of those things represent the the future of chambers and in a macro way. And by the way, I have to clarify the value of chambers in terms of networking, and, you know, a brand new business has just come to, you know, your state or your city or your county, they don’t know anybody, they’re looking to make connections, there is no better organization than a Chamber of Commerce to do that. Because they’ve got the credibility, they’ve got the relationships. So that is, it is always going to be, you know, for chambers to be a connector that will always be a role and responsibility. And we can never lose sight of
Brandon Burton 34:16
that. Absolutely. And I love that, you know, taking the role of advocacy and moving it forward in the future. And I think it’s for a lot of businesses just joining the chamber, they may not fully understand or appreciate that mission or vision that the Chamber has that greater mission. So you need some of those things and networking kind of things, some of those events, some of the things that draw people in initially until you can get them to see the bigger vision and and really see the the great work that a chamber can do. So I think that’s a great tip there. Marc, I wanted to give you an opportunity to put any contact information out there that you’d like for anyone listening that might want to reach out and connect with you and learn more about how you guys are doing things that are in Rochester what would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect?
Connect with Marc Cohen
Marc Cohen 35:06
So GreaterRochesterChamber.com is a great way I’m going to give you my my email address and really anybody listening who has any questions about this, if you’re looking for templates or sort of boilerplate emails or pass advocacy agendas that we’ve done, I would love to share so my email is Marc.Cohen@greaterrochesterchamber.com. And, and it’s not an empty offer. I was so honored that that you reached out to me to be part of your show, and to talk a little bit and I don’t take it for granted. So anybody listening should should feel free to reach out to me. And you should feel free to share my contact information if if folks
Brandon Burton 35:48
want it. So I will put it on our show notes for this episode, which is at chamberchatpodcast.com/episode 162 But Marc be ready for some emails from Chamber Champions they’ve we’ve got a very engaged group and people that want to learn and and further advance their communities. So I’m sure you will have people reaching out and asking for some of those templates and boiler plate boiler plates that they can use to further advance our communities that I would love to anytime. Well thank you for being with us today. You provided a lot of value, great perspective that I hope everybody can take and and help their communities move forward, strengthen their businesses and make sure that there’s pro business candidates and policies in place. So thanks a lot, Marc.
Marc Cohen 36:37
Hey, Brandon, thank you for doing this. Thank you for your advocacy and you wouldn’t be around for as long as you have been with as many episodes and incredible guests as you had if you weren’t great. So thank you for all you do and I look forward to keeping in touch.
Brandon Burton 36:50
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