Portland Metro Chamber-2023 Chamber of the Year Finalist with Andrew Hoan

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

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.

Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your hosts Brandon Burton. And it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community. You’re joining us for a special episode as part of our 2023 ACCE Chamber the Year Finalist Series.

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Brandon Burton 1:44
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Our guest for this episode is Andrew Hoan. Andrew is the President and CEO of the Portland Metro Chamber, which was also a Chamber the Year Finalist last year. Andrew joined the organization in 2018 with years of successful business association executive leadership experience. Previously, Andrew served as the President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which was a word of the 2017 New York State Chamber of Commerce of the year. He’s a resident of Rose City with his wife Karina and children, Theo Rocky and area. For those of you who listen to the podcast for a while may remember Andrew from last year’s chamber, the year finalist series if you want to go back and check that out was episode 185. But Andrew, I’m excited to have you back with us on Chamber Chat Podcast, congratulations to you and your team for being selected again as chamber in the year finalists. Love for you to say hello to the audience and share something interesting about yourself so we can get to know you a little bit better. Sure,

Andrew Hoan 3:12
thanks, Brandon. And hello, everybody. And just thrilled to be back here for several reasons to be on the podcast, of course, but then also to be a finalist for chamber of the year. And it really is it’s a super honor. Because you realize that chambers everywhere, especially in big cities are facing so many challenges, and working so hard to bring our communities back and to be positive in a post pandemic world. And it is not easy. And so to be in consideration is an honor. And we’re up against Boston Orlando, which are incredible cities and awesome Chambers of Commerce. So we’re excited to go to Salt Lake City and compete but also just to be in that mentioned is exciting to be on this show to talk about is even better. So you know, for those that don’t know me, I feel really special because I’ve gotten to see and live in different parts of the world. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which we call the fresh coast. And then I moved out to Brooklyn, New York for nearly two decades. So I lived on the East Coast. And then my wife was recruited to come out here to Portland, Oregon. She’s a incredible physician and surgeon and so we’ve made our home here on the Left Coast. For almost five years. I started my job precisely five years and four days ago. So it’s been a wild ride. And that’s a little bit about myself. Well, happy

Brandon Burton 4:38
chamber anniversary there. Portland. will tell us a little bit more about the Portland Metro Chamber just to give us an idea of the scope of work size staff budget just to kind of prepare us for our conversation today.

Andrew Hoan 4:55
Sure. So the Portland Metro Chamber was founded in 1870. So we’re 153 years old, and it’s had an a storied history throughout throughout the years. And the modern iteration came about in 2002, where the downtown business group and the Regional Chamber of Commerce decided to form an affiliation and legal binding agreement between the two. And ever since then we’ve been known as the alliance. And so our modern chamber was established in 2002. And today, between the three affiliates that make up our alliance, the chamber, downtown Portland’s Business Improvement District, and partners in diversity, which is a diversity, equity and inclusion workspace effort. We have nearly 30 staffers, we have 2200 members, and we serve the 213 blocks of downtown Portland, with Fishel downtown business improvement district services like security and cleaning and retail promotion and marketing and things that you want downtown’s to be. So that’s who we are. And we just launched our sort of newest name and brand identity, we brought forward the the chamber name again, because it was sort of hiding in the background. And we also launched the three year strategic plan as well, simultaneously. So we get to the sort of be in the position now, to be proactive and looking into the future. But that’s a little bit about ourselves and about where we’re going.

Brandon Burton 6:32
Awesome. Yeah, I remember last year, the downtown Yeah, portion of the work that you guys do really caught me by a little bit of surprise, it says a chamber that that’s not something you normally hear chambers doing, but something you guys take on and then are in our managing well. So that’s, that’s definitely unique. So the way that I like to structure these chamber, the year finalist interviews is to really focus our attention on the two programs that you guys submitted on your chamber, the year finalist application. So maybe just at a high level, mentioned what the two programs are, and then we can circle back and a little more depth on each of those.

Andrew Hoan 7:15
Sure. So I’ll start with the first one. And it’s it’s unusual to hear good tax news for businesses, especially out here on the West Coast. And so I’ll start with our successes, on something that took a whole lot of time and effort. And that is completely reforming the business tax codes here in the city, county and our metro region, which is a government body as well. And the result, the headlines are this, because of our actions. The year that began here, 2023, every locally headquartered company will see their business taxes go down. And before this year, we had the unfair condition where businesses that that were from other places could operate in our community and not pay local taxes. And so clearly, that was unfair. And so we reached an incredible, call collaborative opportunity with our local governments, local elected officials to synchronize and change all three levels of governments tax codes simultaneously. And it took two years to do this, it took a lawsuit, and it took a lot of elbow grease. But we got to where we wanted to where all government side in their best interest to support their local business community, noting that it was not going to impact their revenues, and that it was going to strengthen our economy. And so this happened at the very tail end of 2022. And we were able to share the good news with our members and the region. And beyond that Portland, Oregon, and our region can work together on tax reform to the benefit of our local employer community, and that it wasn’t us versus them conversation. Again, though, it did involve a lawsuit. So there was a little bit of angst there at the same time, not gonna lie. And it created what I think to be the conditions to further improving the tax conditions for our business community here. And it’s no secret that we pay very high taxes in this region. Voters have elected to do that time and again, but it was it was too much in our community, our business community, our economy were hurting. And so this was a collaboration and then I think, a shared victory by all three governments that we were very proud of. And we built on that success ever since then. And I’d mentioned before we started talking that just this last May, we were able to, for the first time in over a decade, as the Chamber of Commerce, defeat a local citizen. tax initiative that was just really, really wacky. And we not only defeated it, but the victory margin was 80% opposed to the new tax and 20% in favor. And so I would just ask anybody to think about whether or not anyone’s agreed at 80% on anything in any community of late. And to note that Portland, Oregon, where, you know, socialist registration is out numbers, Republicans in our community was able to defeat a tax measure that that squares with your perception. And so I’d say not only did we reformed taxes, we prevented new ones from happening. And now we’re having really honest and open conversations about what’s the right thing to invest in as a community, whether we’re overburdened, and that doing it in a way that’s super antagonistic, but more collaborative, and focused on what our core issues are. So that’s, that’s number one that may need

Brandon Burton 10:51
to file in amendments with your chamber your application to be able to include that part, right. But eating? Yeah, it’s true.

Andrew Hoan 10:59
We thought about it, you know, and it was the success to was shared by a lot of people it was, you know, we have citizens initiative, like a lot of communities do. And people endorse or, you know, either side, yes or no. And what was a point of pride for us in this effort was that almost every single elected official in our region joined us. And usually, we would be in these opposing sides on tax issues. But I think we proved from last year when you work together to reform taxes, that it can be a win win. And so I think we built trust. And then we built on that trust so that they were able to join our side openly, and then involved community groups, specifically culturally oriented organizations that don’t traditionally take sides on taxes, but that we had also build trust and relationships with so that they were our chief spokesperson. And it wasn’t the business community saying no new taxes. It was our Asian Pacific Islander community, our Hispanic and Latino communities. And you know, our Congress member was one of our chief spokesperson, Earl Blumenauer, who’s not exactly a conservative anti tax leader. So we had great success there. And we’re gonna keep working on it and keep building trust and collaboration on these issues that impact our businesses.

Brandon Burton 12:16
So I’m curious with that initiative, what, what really no, we’re kind of going out of format here. I wanted high level and then details we’re getting into the details. So yeah, what was that driver that made you guys society needed to focus on tax reform in your city, the county and the Metro

Andrew Hoan 12:33
is so unfair on the surface, and we had a complete disconnect. So the business taxes that were created locally, we’re not aligned with our state business taxes. So it started off as sort of basic, this is just bad policies, you just looked at the surface of it. And you know, you’re a company that’s that’s headquartered in Portland, and you’re paying one kind of tax to Portland, and you’re paying another kind of tax to Oregon, and just was creating a sort of administrative mess. So you had a good problem statement. And then secondly, you looked at a company that might be safe from, you know, not to pick on Arizona, but let’s just call it a law firm from Arizona. Could be sir, you know, serving a client here in Portland. And a Portland law firm serving a client here in Portland, and the Portland law firm was paying an Arizona one wasn’t. So there was just fundamental unfairness there. And so by capturing out of state activity here locally, by doing what’s called market based sourcing for our taxes, we were able to capture that out of state activity, which again, it just was principally unfair, and most other locations had moved to that type of taxes. And we were the only organization that could do that sort of really heavy, frankly, boring work. But that was really important to our members absolutely no, resulted in the net savings, because that same Portland firm now is paying less in taxes versus the Arizona which is just getting to parity with a local companies. So there was there were that problem statement that just we couldn’t get away from, and we’re the only entity that could could drive it. And then it was for our members, they are going to see significant financial benefit from this. It’s not a lowering of the rates. It’s just fairness that allows their burden to be decreased. And it was just a matter of convincing the governments that it was a win for them to because when Oregon did this the state, it resulted in a net increase in revenue to the state. And so we were able to demonstrate that hate past can predict the future. You win, we win our companies win this is this is a win win. So it was just a matter of getting through the hard work of opening people’s minds to doing tax reform work and not thinking about it like it’s it’s an antagonistic experience, but a collaborative and positive one where everyone can win.

Brandon Burton 14:52
Yeah. Now that that program that tax reform definitely makes a big impact throughout the entire metro Oh yeah, like you explained the city, county and Metro. And so I’m thinking we need to kind of shift gears into your your other topic and let’s dive into that as soon as we get back from this quick break.

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Brandon Burton 18:25
All right, Andrew, we’re back. So what is the second program that you guys submitted on your application for chamber the year?

Andrew Hoan 18:33
Sure. www.OregonStateofSport.com. And as someone who moved here from the outside, you know, there’s a big difference in culture between Brooklyn, New York, and Portland, Oregon, it lasts similarities, but one of the big cultural differences is that Portlanders are very demure, you know, they don’t want to talk about their successes, they want to be humble. And that’s that, to me is a positive value. And in Brooklyn, you know, you go to Brooklyn, and people are like, Hey, I’m from Brooklyn, and you know, this is the greatest city on earth and don’t mess with us. And so I think it’s interesting, because when I came here, you know, you realize that the region had completely failed to capitalize on the thing that it is truly better than anybody else had, which is what we design the world wears. And whether you’re in outdoor, you know, high adventure activities, or you’re in fitness, you know, you are either climbing on Metolius gear, or you’re running in Nike sneakers and and what we make and wear and design here, everyone is wearing and yet nobody knows about that. So there’s a fundamental disconnect between our economic strategy and the way we market our region, and our own sort of cultural desire to be humble and not talk about our successes. Have, we decided coming out of the pandemic that we needed to focus on a new economic strategy that was predicated on our strengths. And it is one thing, but it was going to be a Portland, and valus are collaborating along with our state partners, and so we formed a quick analysis of proved what we all know that we have more companies, we have more employees. And we produce more economic outcomes in the athletic outdoor team and recreation, business ecosystem than any other place in the country. And that we wanted the world to know. So we launched this brand, this name, this website that’s focused on all the things you want, business attraction, growth work workforce development partner with academic centers, and cross regional collaboration, in part inspired by the work of our peers over in North Carolina, that has been branding themselves in a way the Research Triangle for a long time. So there’s this sense of focusing in on cluster based economic stress assaults and good outcomes for your business community and grows local businesses. And so after we launched this analysis, and this branding exercise, we’ve gotten to work on the policy front. And this has been adopted by our city’s economic development corporation, our region’s economic development corporation, we have a task force bill that’s nearly out of the state legislature right now to establish this as direction for our economic focus for the state. And we’ve had huge wins locally, where it’s pivoted the entire way that our local governments have thought about economic development, where they are pairing their objectives with supporting the state of sport ecosystem. And that’s resulted in simple things like huge wins on events like Formula E, which is going to be happening this weekend, specifically, because we’ve focused on attracting these major athletic and team based conferences and competitions to an entire expo center that is now going to be repositioned, and repurposed as an indoor athletic competition facility, one that will be unrivaled in the entire west coast, because we’re capable of hosting these types of large scale events. And we proved it last year, with the world Track and Field games, they came here for the first time to America. And right here in Oregon, where the first Nike was produced over in Hayward field in Eugene. So we’re building on our strengths. We’re converting that into a real economic development synergies and major investments by our local governments. And we see this as a huge potential to build on the economic engine that’s already driving growth, and to catalyze cross regional collaborations between places like bend and Eugene and Portland that didn’t always work together before, even though that’s we’re the flagship city. But they’re the places that have the major academic centers and the research campuses. So this is about borrowing from other people’s playbooks building on our successes and being a chamber that leading an economic development strategy, because the private sector knows how to get this done. And so we’re putting our voices first. And we’re bringing our governments along with us,

Brandon Burton 23:25
right. Now, to me, it makes a lot of sense. And you’ve got those other models that you can look at, like you mentioned the Research Triangle, North Carolina. And it makes a lot of sense to bring those synergies together. How has it been received throughout the community as a, I guess, community at large, right, because it’s a large area that you’re talking about. But from you know, those those natives to Oregon who may be a little hesitant to be boastful or to showcase you know, the good positive wins, things that are happening, how’s that been adopted and kind of changing that mindset of, you know, we’ve got something special here to show off to the world.

Andrew Hoan 24:06
I think that it’s now become a marker, because and I’ll give examples of this. Portland is in line right now, to attract a WNBA franchise, and our United States senator who’s the Chair of the Finance Committee, US Senate, Ron Wyden is working with us and our coalition to do the attraction of a WNBA franchise to Portland, and it fits all the things that we care about. So it’s about aligning our values and our culture, along with economic strategy and doing in a collaborative way. And we’re making that hard pitch right now to attract a franchise. Secondly, we’re also in line for a Major League Baseball franchise and so we have an MLB initiative here. It’s really going to be us on the West Coast and maybe a couple other cities that are vying for an expansion team but we are laying the groundwork now with our partners in government. To build a new stadium here in the city to acquire the land that makes that happen, and to make that hard pitch to the commissioner’s office about why Portland is the right place. So what it’s done is it’s just sort of the light bulb went off, you know, everybody’s like, Oh, right, yeah, we are the center of athletic and outdoor activity. And, yes, these big franchises are exciting. But who wouldn’t want to be a WNBA team in the place where Air Jordans were great. You know, come on, it’s just an incredible opportunity. And, you know, we really are in the Pacific Northwest, we don’t have that sort of galvanizing team base right now. Because you know, if it’s not in Seattle, or in Portland, it doesn’t exist. And there’s a lot of space between us and the rest of the country. But we’ve seen that the community embraces this type of economic development strategy already, because they’re just ravenous fans. And I’ll give an example, Major League Soccer opened up here, you know, over a decade ago, and the Portland Timbers and thorns are unrivaled successes, the thorns is, I think, arguably the most successful women’s soccer franchise on earth. And the brand and imagery in the fan base, loves and embraces the team. And it’s just to us the revelation, that community is already there. We in the business community just needed to sync up with the way that people in Portland felt about themselves for so long. And to give it a name and a brand and identity. So now all these efforts are finally working together in a way that is super collaborative and is going to move the needle if we land these two franchises, they’ll be game changers for

Brandon Burton 26:46
quite literally game. So that is super exciting. And I guess you need that balance after working on all the tech stuff, right? The super boring, the super exciting, you got to get out of that contrast. No these things they don’t happen overnight, right like to be able to be in position for Major League Baseball franchise or WNBA franchise, like if you guys weren’t already doing things well in that in your community to be able to attract the attention and be be a major player in that the running for these teams. It doesn’t happen overnight. So this is exciting stuff. I’m going to be, you know, keeping my eye on on Portland and seeing what happens here the next, you know, short future. But as we start to wrap things up here, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share maybe any tips or action items for listener who is really wanting to take their organization up to the next level what what kind of tips or advice might you offer to them?

Andrew Hoan 27:52
You know, I think reflecting now, five years into this job and the conditions of the city, our policy and our effectiveness five years ago versus where they are today. It was a really hard transition for me personally to come to Portland, where it felt like the business community was reviled that the job was impossible. And we couldn’t get anything done today feeling like there’s nothing we can’t do, we just have to be selective about what we engage in. I think what has borne the most fruit, which I believe is the thing that no chamber person should ignore, is to understand that you are inheriting an instance that will live beyond you. And that you have to focus on the fundamentals to be able to do the stuff that we’re talking about today. And when I mean fundamentals, I really mean inwardly looking staff and board development. And I look at our board now versus where it was five years ago. And this is not about somebody did something bad five years ago, it’s just we didn’t have strategic direction, we didn’t have goals in terms of behaviors and outcomes on our board. People didn’t understand how we’re making decisions. And it took a lot of time, effort and energy to build a strategic thinking on our board. That right now I can say looking at it five years on is what actually allows us to do the things that we do and it gives us the authority and influence that we need to be able to do our work externally. Because we have the weight of a highly functionally functioning collaborative board. And then secondly, on the staff side, you know, I think this gets right now everyone’s talking about building corporate culture. And you know, I think it’s almost become a cliche now but we have all gone through this unbelievably impactful experience last three years and staffs across every organization chain numbers are part of that have really gone through their own emotional journeys, physical ones tragedy, you know, political upheaval, you know, everybody’s feeling that impact about where we are as a society. And so as a chamber leader, and executive, you got to take care of your teams, because I look now at our staff, they work together, they support each other so that they know if if, if, for whatever reason, they’re dropping balls, or they’re just maybe lagging, or something’s impacting their work, or they’re stressed out and challenged, that people have their back. And that’s really a good thing. So staff and board, don’t ignore it, focus on it, and every investment you make into those two buckets will pay dividends in the long run.

Brandon Burton 30:50
I love that, that, uh, that response seems well, so well thought out. And the things that really stand out to me is, like you said, when coming in there and looking at some of these tasks as being impossible to now kind of be an unstoppable, right. Collective, but also looking at at the institution, you know, living beyond you, I think that’s huge to give that perspective, and, and we’re all making that that impact right now. And in your moment of time, but what you’re building and the community around you is going to live on well beyond you. That’s powerful. So maybe along those lines, how do you see the future of chambers going forward and their their purpose going forward?

Andrew Hoan 31:36
Well, you know, I think about chambers, I think about, you know, I’m biased towards the fact that we tend to represent, you know, large urban centers, you know, I think that’s probably most people know that every single city, big and small, has a chamber of commerce, and states do as well. But I think most people really connect with their local Chamber of Commerce, because it’s like, Who can I trust to tell me about what’s happening in my city and in my town, and chambers tend to be that unassailable voice of reason. And I think of it now more importantly, because cities and downtown’s we’re looking at very differently. You know, the, what happened with the pandemic and hybrid work will completely up and what happens with urban centers in the future. And I think that’s the Chamber’s of the future. Where we are today has never been more critical and understanding our downtown’s and downtown’s matter, because they’re where everybody comes together. They’re welcoming places. And right now they are hurting. I don’t know one city anywhere in this country that isn’t feeling that there’s something that’s really challenging the fundamentals there. And I believe in cities, I believe in urban centers, and chambers play a huge role in thinking about what comes next. And so the chamber the future, is focused on how do we future proof? How do we adapt, learn and create a more vibrant center city for all and I think that’s what we all need to be focused on talking about as we move our organizations into the future.

Brandon Burton 33:18
Yeah, I think that’s a that’s a good vision, looking forward. And hopefully, we’ll prove out well, his chambers have that focus on on the downtown’s and the city centers. And I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who might want to learn more about how you guys are doing things, they’re in Portland, what would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect with you? Sure,

Andrew Hoan 33:44
you can reach out to me at andrew@portlandmetrochamber.com brand new email, but serves the same purpose. And I love to hear from people across the country. We love to work with other chambers. And so I would love to hear from you and reach out and happy to grab a virtual cup of coffee or if you ever in Portland, we welcome you in our home. And we have a beautiful office that overlooks this resplendent environment. City and say you’re always walking with us.

Brandon Burton 34:16
Awesome. I appreciate that. We’ll we’ll get your email in the show notes as well. But everybody got to take Andrew up on that offer of that virtual cup of coffee or, or just learning more about how they’re they’re doing things. They’re in Portland. But Andrew, it’s been a pleasure having you back on the podcast and talking all good things Portland. Wish you and your team Best of luck as chamber the year and I look forward to chatting with you next time.

Andrew Hoan 34:46
Thanks so much, Brandon. Take care.

Brandon Burton 34:49
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