New Asheville Chamber President Announced

ASHEVILLE CHAMBER ANNOUNCES NEW PRESIDENT & CEO

Asheville, North Carolina—The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the selection of its new President & CEO as Kit Cramer, current president of the International Downtown Association (IDA) in Washington, DC.

Alice io Oglesby, chair of the Chamber Board and president of io design and illustration, inc., reported that the Chamber’s Board of Directors approved the recommendation of the Search Committee to hire Kit Cramer at its called meeting on October 6. Cramer will begin work on November 15, replacing Rick Lutovsky who is retiring after 10 years at the head of the organization.

“Kit brings an excellent set of skills to the position,” said Mike Willett, Chair of the Search Committee. “During the interview process, we were impressed not only with the variety of professional experience she has to offer, but also her enthusiasm and obvious passion for Chamber work.”

 “Asheville is a beautiful, exciting place. The diversity of thought there is one of the things I found most attractive about the community. I’m honored to have been selected for this position and am excited to get to work,” said Cramer. “Rick Lutovsky has built a strong and accomplished team. I look forward to getting to know them as well as the community as I work with the Board to take the organization to the next level.”

Cramer’s current organization, IDA, is a 650-member association with the mission of being a guiding force in creating healthy and dynamic city centers that anchor the well-being of towns, cities and regions throughout the world.

Prior to leading IDA, Cramer worked for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce for 17 years in various management capacities, including as executive director of Member Services where she worked with the Chamber’s seven area chapters. As a Vice President in the Economic Development division, she worked as a recruiter for new business as well as an advocate for existing businesses. As group Vice President for Education, she worked on education public policy and workforce development initiatives.

Prior to her tenure at the Charlotte Chamber, she served as public information officer for two school systems. She also worked as a downtown manager early in her career.

While working in education public policy, Cramer also served as Vice-Chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education for three years.

A graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Journalism & PR, Cramer is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. She has received the Certified Chamber Executive designation from the Association of Chambers of Commerce Executives. She has been married to her husband, Mark, for 27 years. They have two grown children, Kathryn and Mac, who live in Charlotte.

The Chamber’s Search Committee was comprised of Oglesby, Immediate Past Chair Mike Willett of BB&T, First Vice Chair LaVoy Spooner of AT&T and former Chair Peter Alberice of Camille-Alberice Architects. Susie Jernigan of Sockwell Partners managed the process.

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PRAWNC debuts luncheon site on foursquare

This week, Public Relations Association of Western North Carolina announced expanded member benefits and a new luncheon site at the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. Both decisions cement the organization's unspoken, yet implicit showcasing of its members-as-opinion-leaders.

At the group's March luncheon, the first in the Chamber location, communications industry leader Justin Wight, senior partner with TerraNova Strategies, LLC, will share his next generation insights on "Fully integrating the internet into broad communications strategies." Wight is expected to extend and expand upon traditional communication vehicles, creating new understandings attendees can use to maximize returns in the new digital frontier.

The luncheon is Thursday, March 25, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Asheville Chamber of Commerce. Members $15; Non-members $25. RSVP at finance@prawnc.org.

In a move representative of the unexpected sort of thing we're seeing from this organization, PRAWNC launched its new profile on foursquare, a late-breaking social media phenomenon.

According to foursquare, the service "is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things. We aim to build things to not only help you keep up with the places your friends go, but that encourage you to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways."

Insiders speculate foursquare, with its unique "To-Do" postings, has interesting implications for public relations practice, especially for use in vertical project planning and audience engagement across regions, audiences, or venues. The origination of the foursquare profile augments the organization's now taken for granted use of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In.

What's left to tweet, fan, friend, post, and now, To-Do?

March is also PRAWNC's membership renewal month: $50 professionals, and $25 students. In addition to seriously hooked-up networking, we hear the group's expanded benefits include access to perks from the organization's new membership in the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, and special programming for students and job seekers. For more information, go to www.prawnc.org.

Sherri L. McLendon is a freelance writer near Asheville, N.C. Check out her media blog at www.sherrimclendon.com, or email her directly at sherri@sherrimclendon.com.

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Asheville Chamber partners w/ Young Professionals

CHAMBER ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH YOUNG PROFESSIONALS OF ASHEVILLE
The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that the Young Professionals of Asheville (YPA) and the Chamber have entered into a partnership to deliver the finest development opportunities for our community's future leaders. To celebrate this new relationship, the Chamber and YPA will be hosting a celebration for Asheville's young professionals on February 18, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Visitor Center at the Chamber Building.

"The partnership with the Young Professionals of Asheville is an exciting opportunity for the Chamber to provide leadership and professional development opportunities for Asheville's future leaders," said Rick Lutovsky, President of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. "Many Chambers nationwide find that young professional programs in their communities serve as a training ground for advancing these individuals into the leaders that our small businesses, corporations, and organizations need."

The YPA program is focused on business networking, personal growth, leadership development, and social interaction for individuals in the Asheville area between the ages of 21 and 40. Any young professional in the area is welcome to participate in YPA programs with discounted program rates offered to Chamber members and their employees. "Partnering with the Chamber will allow YPA to reach many more young professionals in our community and create opportunities that we would not be able to accomplish independently," said Grant Gosch, President of YPA, and Director of Business Development at First Light Solar.

The celebration on February 18 will showcase some of the many talents of Asheville's young professionals. The Colorful Palate will be providing hors d'oeuvres, Short Street Cakes will provide dessert, and Craggie Brewing Company will be providing local craft beer for the reception. For more information on the celebration please visit http://www.ypasheville.org/

Asheville Chamber President & CEO is retiring

Richard J. Lutovsky, President & CEO of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, notified the Chamber Board and staff of his intentions to retire this September. The announcement at this time gives the Board nine months to conduct a search and name a successor.


“I am proud of the accomplishments that have taken place at the Chamber and community during my ten-year tenure. We have been at the forefront of advancements in the areas of tourism, workforce and economic development, services to our members, wellness and healthcare. Our staff is outstanding and recognized as such by the national chamber community. They and our Board have delivered for our members and the Asheville area,” Lutovsky said.

“Rick and his team have built one of the most outstanding chambers in the southeast,” stated Michael Willett, Chamber Chairman and Regional President of BB&T. “Of his many successes, he must be recognized for overseeing the funding and construction of our state-of-the-art chamber building and visitor center. We are pleased that he and his wife, Janna, will be staying in Asheville after retirement.”

“My wife is a recent cancer survivor, and I have committed to spending more time with her, doing what we enjoy. Traveling will be part of that,” Lutovsky said.

“There are several initiatives that will take up much of my time over the next nine months. Foremost, are the next Advantage Asheville campaign, Advantage Asheville 2015, and the building of our healthcare plan that the North Carolina Legislature approved last session,” said Lutovsky. “We will also finish our legislative agenda for 2010, conduct the spring Total Resource Campaign and complete other ongoing endeavors. The Board will also have my full support in the transition process.

I have enjoyed every day since arriving in Western North Carolina and appreciate the support of the staff and Board, our great members and volunteers, elected officials and the community. Janna and I look forward to continuing our active involvement, but in a different way,” said Lutovsky.


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Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

The old Asheville Chamber of Commerce looked pretty good, but then this one popped up on this old restaurant spot in downtown Asheville. I heard when they dug up the footings of the old place for this building, they found bones and everything buried deep in the dirt.

The Asheville Chamber has been very effective in putting together programs to benefit the Asheville community and Western North Carolina. They had an Internet Technology Council years ago and tried to implement the "Starfish" mentality with other professionals in the area. Do not know exactly what happened to that. The last thing I heard is that they got direct flights from Asheville to NYC and several other locations from one of the Major Airline Carriers.

Then they have a colorful vibrant marketing face called Explore Asheville that is a local resource guide for the Asheville area. We were actually doing a poll recently and comparing it with another great site in the area called Asheville Now. Check both of them out and comment what you think is the better site, haha.

So here is the "new" (3 years old) Asheville Chamber of Commerce. Beverly-Grant Construction of Asheville built this structure and it was about $1 million over budget, and rumor is because of a irresponsible construction superintendent that was playing on the internet in the work trailer while the job schedule and budget was being blown to smitherines. Oh well, tomorrow is another day, hopefully better.

The Chamber is a wonderful place to network with local businesses and if you have the time to get involved, it is well worth it. Members Only is their undertone and they run a tight eventful network circle in Asheville NC. www.AshevilleChamber.org