The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors is taking the recent resignation of its former CEO/President as an opportunity to re-focus the organization’s efforts to increase membership and cut costs, according to the Board’s chair.
The Board is taking about three months to do some soul-searching before hiring a new leader, as it re-evaluates the CEO/President position, which entails running all of the day-to-day operations of the nonprofit business services organization. The goal of this look inward is to “best serve the needs of its members and the people of Morgan Hill,” according to Chamber Board Chair Rich Firato.
Former Chamber CEO/President Chris Giusiana abruptly resigned from the Chamber April 3, after serving in that position for about five years. Firato said he could not specify why Giusiana resigned because it is a private personnel issue, but in April he said she plans to “pursue other opportunities.”
Giusiana, who made $70,200 in salary last year according to Chamber tax documents, could not be contacted by press time.
Almost immediately after Giusiana’s resignation, the Board announced it would wait about three months to hire her replacement while they re-examine the organization’s future leadership needs. Chamber Board Vice Chair John Horner stepped in to handle the Chamber’s daily operations as interim CEO/President until the board decides what direction to take.
“We’re just looking to see if we really need a CEO, or a marketing director, or a sales person, and determine what we really need so we’re not overspending or underspending,” Firato said.
The Board provided the Chamber’s Form 990 tax filing documents for 2012 to the Times. The documents show the Chamber ended 2012 with a loss of about $33,000.
“That’s never a good thing,” Horner said.
The losses came from a decline in membership dues, a loss on the third annual No Bull BBQ Cookoff (which the Board discontinued this year), and the lack of expected funding from the former Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency which was shut down by the state in February 2012.
The Chamber’s total revenues (mainly from membership dues and vendor fees for special fundraising events) for 2012 were about $225,400, according to the Form 990.
In 2011, the Chamber ended the year with about a $40,000 surplus.
Total salaries, benefits and other compensation listed on the tax form was about $131,900, but the form does not individually list other staff positions or salaries. Horner noted the Chamber is only required to list the salary of its highest-paid officer, and the rest of that total was paid to two other staff members.
The Chamber’s Board of Directors did not accept any compensation.
In this interim period of re-evaluation, one of Horner’s first tasks is to conduct a membership drive this month in an effort to increase Chamber membership, Firato said.
There are currently about 400 Chamber members in Morgan Hill – a sharp decline from about 600 a few years ago, just before the economy took a dive and put a strain on the finances of local businesses, Firato said.
Firato added that Horner, the co-owner of Thinker Toys at Vineyard Town Center, is also in the process of reorganizing the Chamber’s downtown office at 17485 Monterey Road, “to make it a more effective work environment.”
Horner is also chair of the Chamber’s Education Committee, which helps organize events such as Rock-the-Mock – which helps local students learn job interview skills – Career Day at Martin Murphy Middle School and the Rachel’s Challenge program last year that helped teach local young people the importance of kindness.
Chamber member and one-time director Brad Jones, co-owner of BookSmart, said he is encouraged by recent additions of local small business owners such as Horner and Firato (who owns Firato Janitorial) to the Chamber’s board. Other local business people on the 14-member board are Phil Couchee of Recology South Valley, Jeff Burrus of the Morgan Hill Cigar Shop, Marian Tankersley of Intero Real Estate and Greg Richtarek of Guglielmo Winery.
“They understand more what the needs are of small businesses in our new world, with ever-shrinking resources at the public level, and bigger corporations ruling the playing field,” Jones said. “I think they’re trying to determine what is the best path for them in the near future, and on the longer road.”
And while he praised the Chamber’s educational efforts, Jones added the organization should maintain its more traditional business-related roles at the same time.
“They should be helping the businesses that are here. They should be doing economic gardening – helping to make them bigger, better and stronger,” Jones said. “They can help educate the public about why shopping local and independent is important. They can help bring education programs to businesses (such as) how to get a loan, or how to expand their reach.”
Chamber member Darin Dixon, owner of The Music Tree in the Downtown Mall, said he has noticed improvements in the Chamber board’s outreach efforts recently. Despite the close proximity of the Chamber’s office to the Music Tree (just across the street), he used to never hear from the Chamber’s staff or board members.
“But it has been a big difference in the past few months, and the Music Tree’s relationship with the Chamber has catapulted to a new level,” said Dixon, who has been a Chamber member for about three years. Now, he meets with Chamber representatives on a regular basis, and Firato walks across the street often to discuss the many projects that the Chamber and Music Tree collaborate on – such as the upcoming Friday Night Music Series.
Dixon said that whoever the Chamber board hires to replace Giusiana, it should be someone who is already familiar with Morgan Hill and has relationships in the local business community.
Dixon also credits the addition of Firato and other business owners to the Chamber board for the changes, and he thinks that focus should continue as the board considers hiring a new leader.
“The Music Tree has such an understanding of what’s going on in the (local) music industry and the arts, that having that insight on the board level (for example), I think, would improve the performance of the Chamber overall,” Dixon said.
