Biztalk With Score

Fox West Chamber of Commerce - Jamie Harvey, Executive Director

• SCORE Northeast Wisconsin • Season 26 • Episode 25

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Jamie Harvey, executive director for the Fox West Chamber of Commerce joins host Terry Pinch to explain how the chamber is working hard every day to help their members grow and thrive. From events and networking to fostering the next generation through workforce development and a young professionals program, the Fox West Chamber is committed to serving its businesses, providing value, relationship building and meaningful connections.


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Terry Pinch: Good morning, and welcome to BizTalk with SCORE. I'm Terry Pinch, the host this week. I will be going solo this week as, due to some of the weather events of the week, we've had to make some adjustments in our schedule. But, luckily, we still have a great guest for you this week. Our guest is Jamie Harvey, Executive Director of the Fox West Chamber of Commerce. Jamie, welcome to the show.

Jamie Harvey: Thank you!

Terry Pinch: And, to get started, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, and your background, and how you got to where you are?

Jamie Harvey: Sure, so I worked for the Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce for 6 years, then I was in the restoration world, and I was an ambassador for all 3 of the local chambers here. And then, at the end of last year, I was approached by the board president saying, do you want to take this executive director role and make it full-time? I said, yeah, like, that would be awesome. I went home, I was so excited that I had to pump the brakes and be like, all right, relax. Things have to go through a process. I didn't realize the board had to vote me in, so I looked at the board, and I'm like, oh, these are people I've supported throughout the years, so I got voted in, and I started in the very first beginning of January, and it's been a lot of work, it's been a lot of fun, it's been a huge learning curve, but we're loving it.

Terry Pinch: And was working with the Heart of the Valley, was that your first job out of school, or you'd done other experiences?

Jamie Harvey: Absolutely not. So, when I first graduated college in Madison, I worked for Spin Group in Milwaukee. My background was in website design, multimedia technology. We worked there for a couple years. We were a subcontractor for GE Medical Systems, and then after a couple years, they dissolved that part of GE, and I grew up snowboarding, and my family would take us on trips all over the United States, and we went to Tahoe one year, and I said, I'm moving here. So when they dissolved that, I grabbed my best friend, I said, do you want to give up on life and go be a snowboard bum for a winter? And she said, yes. So we went out there, and as soon as winter was done, we're like, well, I want to stick around for summer. So we did, and then all of our friends were getting married, so we had to go home for the summer. I'm like, I can't afford to go home seven different times, so let's just go home for the summer. So we did. And all of her friends got married, and I looked at her, I said, do you want to go back? And she said, yeah. So we went back, got our old apartment back, got our old jobs back on the mountain, and I met my husband out there, who's from Chicago, he's got a cabin up in Marinette, and she married one of his best friends, and she's still out there.

Terry Pinch: What brought you back?

Jamie Harvey: So, his grandma passed and left him a house in Chicago, and his brother and sister lived on there, and they had kids and jobs, and they didn't have time to take care of it. So, like, let's fix it up, sell it, come back to Tahoe. Well, that's when the economy took a tank. And we were there a lot longer than we wanted to be. Then it's like, do we move back to Tahoe and work two jobs, or do we stay in the Midwest, where my parents, your parents, aren't getting any younger? We've got nieces and nephews, so I go. How about Appleton? That's middle ground. My family's up north in Upper Michigan, and in Appleton, and in Madison. His family's in Chicago, again, with his cabin in Marinette. It was an awesome middle ground, so that's where we settled down!

Terry Pinch: Okay, cool. So, let's turn to the Fox West Chamber. Can you tell our listeners who the Fox West Chamber is, and a bit of its history?

Jamie Harvey: Of course, so the Fox West Chamber, its territory is Fox Crossing, Grand Chute, Greenville, and Hortonville. And but like any other chamber, we have members from Fond du Lac, Waupaca, De Pere, you know, whoever finds value in it, you know, join. The history of it, I had to look it up because I saw these notes. It was founded in Hortonville in 1999, with about 50 members, and they had brat fries, rummage sales, some socials, and then by 2009, they got about 60 people. And then the town of Greenville approached Lance Schmidt. Lance Schmidt was with Wolf River Bank for a long time to start one in Greenville, and so they did. They did, and they formed a mission of building business-enriching communities.

Terry Pinch: Okay, so with the Chamber itself, you've been in the role now since the beginning of January, correct?

Jamie Harvey: Yes.

Terry Pinch: So what surprised you the most in these first 6 months?

Jamie Harvey: So, we were talking about this a little bit before the show, what surprised me is the financial part of it. Again, I never had to deal with the financial means in any role I've ever had in my life, and again, we implemented a new database at the start. Also, the office itself was never utilized, so we didn't have office furniture, we didn't have a stapler, we didn't have tape, you know, so we had to build from the ground up, and at the same time, pay attention to the database, at the same time, try to grow members, at the same time, keep our finances where they're supposed to be. It's funny, one of our board members asked me about a week or so ago, he's like, Jamie, I'm gonna guess when you first started here, you were swimming in confusion. I'm like, you know what? I couldn't put it any other way. I was swimming in confusion, but day by day goes by, week goes by, month goes by, everything is going a lot more smoothly.

Terry Pinch: So, as you look back over those last 6 months, how much have you learned?

Jamie Harvey: Oh, I've learned a lot! It's funny, my title is Executive Director, but I am the low man on the totem pole, so I have to answer to the entire board, which are super supportive and helpful. Every day, I learn something, and I swear, I work with Sue Lehmers in the office, she's the assistant director, and every day I say, I learned something new today.

Terry Pinch: So tell me, why should a business join a chamber?

Jamie Harvey: Why wouldn't they? I've been in the chamber world for a long time, and I will say this till the day I die: it works if you work it. People will join sometimes, and then don't attend anything. Then a year comes around for renewal, and they're like, well, I didn't see any value. It's like, I didn't see you at anything. I send out a weekly email of the week's events, the upcoming events, even monthly events, and it's like, please come. I wouldn't be in this position if I didn't believe in it. People show up to these events, they network, they either find out they're working with them, they're working for them, they've made connections, they're golfing with them, they find friends. You will get your value back 100%, if not more, with your membership value. Come to these events, talk about yourself, say what's going on in your business, advertise yourself. Be a part of this growing community, and you will see results.

Terry Pinch: Okay, so we'll talk more about the specific events later in the show. For a person who's going to come into the chamber, is really what you're selling networking, or is there even more to it than that?

Jamie Harvey: Well, yeah, absolutely. Networking, business referrals, and sponsorships. If you want to stay involved, like, we have our golf outing coming up at the end of July, and it's very well attended, and if you want to get your name out there and be a presenting sponsor, get a whole flag, sit on the hole, talk about yourself. The membership value is referrals. Grow your business. We can help you with that. If there's anything going on in your business, you join the Chamber, you get your own database portal, you can go in there, advertise, say, we have this event going on, blah blah blah, it goes directly to our website. If they say, hey, Jamie, I want to promote this, it'll go directly into my weekly email. Jamie, I want to promote this on Facebook. I'll share it on Facebook. We're here to support and grow all these businesses, and make connections for them to do that.

Terry Pinch: So, there are chambers across the state, across the country. But how are you funded? How are all these chambers funded to do the great work they do?

Jamie Harvey: So, again, you can join at a level that will have annual events that will have tickets for the Timber Rattlers night, tickets for the annual awards, tickets for the golf outing, you can get that at a higher level. If you go to a lower level, you can still sponsor those events. You can say, I just want two tickets for this. I'm gonna go at this lower level, and I want one ticket for this. So your money is wherever you want to put it in, so it's advertising, sponsorships, it's membership. But absolutely use it. Don't let it sit there.

Terry Pinch: So, with chambers, there's a lot of change going on in the world around us right now. What does that mean for Chambers? What challenges are you facing?

Jamie Harvey: What challenges do we face? My god, everything. So, again, money. We're a non-profit, so we have a very tight budget. So we have our annual events, we can allocate this money to this event, we can allocate this money to this event. So, obviously we're looking to continue to grow. Challenges, I will tell you what, you cannot please everyone all the time, so with the amount of membership you have, people have questions, comments, concerns every day about maybe you should do it this way, maybe you should do it that way. You're dealing with all these members, and you have to accommodate all of them, and be positive about it, and make sure that they're not just a number, you know, that they're a valued member, and how we can help them.

Terry Pinch: So, going back to the members themselves, as you talk to them, what are you hearing from your members about what they're most concerned about in the business environment right now?

Jamie Harvey: Well, so I'll give you an example. There's a guy at UW Oshkosh that is available at our chamber every second Wednesday of the month from 1 to 3, and it's free, and he does small business development advising. For example, we were in an after-hours, and a small business that just opened approached me, and she said, Jamie, I'm having a hard time getting people in the door. I said, talk to Chad. Chad's right here. So he met her at her business, sat down, gave her free advice on how she can move forward. And that's been successful, it's been great. Just connecting hands, passing off. You need to talk to this person. You need to talk to this person.

Terry Pinch: So, as you look across your membership, who are your members? What's the makeup of your membership?

Jamie Harvey: So, we have very large businesses, but then we also have Tom and Sally's Beauty Salon down the street. We've got the Stone Yard that's right across the street from us. Pretty much anybody that sees value in us, that wants to participate and come to our events and grow their presence, we're really open to anybody. There's little boutique shops, there's huge manufacturing plants, but again, as long as they want to join, that's great, but we want to see their faces. I always say, we just had somebody join, a hotel, and he's new to the area, doesn't really know anybody. I told him, the next event you want to go to, tell me you're coming, I will meet you at the front door. Nobody wants to go to events and sit in the corner, not talk to anybody. I will introduce you to everybody. Our chamber is a very welcoming chamber. As soon as a new person comes into an event, everyone wants to shake their hand and meet them, and see how they can add value, and how they can work together. It's a great community.

Terry Pinch: Okay, so as we head to wrapping up this first segment, how can people financially support the Fox West Chamber?

Jamie Harvey: So, again, I mentioned earlier, with membership and with sponsorship. Absolutely, so we have about four annual events, so if they want to get their name out there, if they want to get their business out there, they can either sponsor or join.

Terry Pinch: Okay. So we're going to be taking our first break now. You're listening to BizTalk with SCORE on WHBY, and we'll be right back after these messages.

Terry Pinch: Welcome back to BizTalk. Thanks for joining us this week. Before we get back to our guest, Jamie Harvey, who's the Executive Director of the Fox West Chamber of Commerce, I want to give you a short overview of SCORE. SCORE Northeast Wisconsin serves a 29-county area, primarily in Northeast Wisconsin, with over 30 members in the region, and access to over 10,000 members nationally. We offer entrepreneurs no-cost and confidential mentoring. Areas of expertise include marketing, cash flow, strategic planning, workflow, HR, best practices, and many other specialties. In order to register for a no-cost and confidential mentoring session, and learn more about the Northeast Wisconsin SCORE chapter, visit our website at score.org/wi/northeast-wisconsin. Simply complete the online form and submit it to SCORE. Within a few days, a SCORE mentor will be contacting you to set up the meeting. SCORE is a national nonprofit, a local chapter affiliated with the Small Business Administration, but we are a separate nonprofit. We do use this radio show to help raise our money for the chapter, and we're very appreciative of all of you both listening and working with our sponsors as well. To support small business people, SCORE is always looking for new mentors. If you have experience that you would like to share with others, go to score.org/wi/northeast-wisconsin, click on the volunteer button, and fill out the short application. We'll get back to you to explain more. In addition to our broadcasts in WHBY, BizTalk with SCORE is also available as a podcast. We bring you the same expert advice, impactful stories, and real-world insights from experienced entrepreneurs and business leaders as you get here on WHBY on BizTalk. Listen and follow today. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Now back to BizTalk and our guest Jamie Harvey.

Terry Pinch: Jamie, building on our discussion in the first segment, can you talk a little bit about both how the Fox West Chamber educates its members, but also helps contribute to educating the community about business?

Jamie Harvey: Absolutely. So every month, we have our monthly meeting. It rotates between the municipalities of Grand Chute, Greenville, and Hortonville. We have a whole committee that takes care of it, and we bring in a different presenter every month. They bring in all their different topics, whether they want to talk about social media, what's going on in the community, or have an interactive session. We're always looking for presenters for that. We also have our Chamber University, which we're switching out to be every quarter. It's gonna be a professional development meeting, 2 hours, and we're gonna bring in speakers from UW Oshkosh, Fox Valley Technical College. We also have a donut shop presentation for the students, so we get about 5 different area schools together. They bring all the students in, they sit at their teams and their tables, they have one mentor at every table, and they come up with their different thoughts about how they would present a new donut shop, the name for it, and how it would work and run. It's highly entertaining and very creative. We're always looking to give back to the students. We give out two scholarships a year, we allocate that in our budget, and we presented them to the Hortonville students. Now we have two new students that came into the board meeting yesterday, and they are very impressive and driven.

Terry Pinch: So, when I moved back again in 2003, you started to see some more people staying. With this work you're doing with the schools, are you seeing positive effects starting to happen with being able to tell the story of why people should stay in the area and the great opportunities that are here?

Jamie Harvey: Okay, I'm so glad you said that, because before my time here at the Chamber, they did a "Heavy Metal Bus Tour," and they went to these bigger businesses. If your students want to go off to college, great, go to the college experience, but we want to retain them and have them come back and stay in the Fox Valley area, and grow and see these businesses here. We want to expose them to as many businesses as we can, see where the internships come in, see what it looks like to stay here and grow here and live and work and play here.

Terry Pinch: And as you look at your members, is that something they're seeing too? Unemployment rates are so low here. Is it hard for your members to find employees?

Jamie Harvey: Well, you know, that comes in all shapes and sizes. Our manufacturing people are involved with our Chamber University, and that's where the encouragement comes in, for these kids to stay here, see the value of the job market here, and how you can make money here, and have a good life here, be by your family here. So, like I said, go to college, come back! Come back to us!

Terry Pinch: Yeah, I don't think any of my kids expected that they'd stay around here, and all three of them have. With that, we are going to take our second break. You're listening to BizTalk with SCORE on WHBY, and we'll be right back after these messages.

Terry Pinch: Welcome back to BizTalk with SCORE. We're talking to Jamie Harvey, Executive Director of the Fox West Chamber of Commerce. But before I get back to Jamie, I would like to take a moment to tell you about another non-profit, St. Patrick's Gifts and Books in Northland Mall. In 1976, Father Timmon Costello was looking for a way to help fund two halfway houses he'd helped charter, Villa Hope and Villa Phoenix. As a result, in July of that year, he opened St. Patrick's Bookstore, a non-profit Catholic and Christian store in Appleton. Less than a decade later, the halfway houses were self-sufficient, and St. Patrick's turned to helping fund other nonprofits in the area, including warming shelters, food pantries, youth organizations, and abuse shelters. The store has been serving the community for 50 years. With the massive changes in the way retail works now, a difficult decision to close the store has been made, and it will be closing on July 31st. Closing sales and the endowment previously established by St. Patrick's Gifts and Books will be used to continue supporting Fox Valley nonprofit community organizations in the future. Please visit the store inside the Northland Mall before the final date to take advantage of closing sales, use gift cards, or just say goodbye to the manager for the last 35 years, Patty DiMarco, as well as her dedicated staff. SCORE would like to thank St. Patrick's for their 50 years of providing needed community assistance, as well as thanking everyone for 50 years of support for St. Patrick's. And with that, we'll get back to the show. Jamie, let's start getting to a little more detail now about what businesses can do when they get involved with the Chamber. What value do events bring for the Chamber itself?

Jamie Harvey: Every month, we have three events. We have our cards and coffee in the morning, where you go around the room, give your elevator speech, and afterwards, people stick around and make great business referrals and connections. Then every month, we have our monthly meeting. Again, it rotates between the Greenville, Grand Chute, and Hortonville municipalities, and we have a different speaker for all of them. Then every month, we have our business after hours, and those are just fun. Bring your business cards, grab a cocktail, grab an appetizer, network, and it's just very casual. Then we have our yearly events. We have our annual golf outing, coming up at the end of July at Chaska. Then we have our annual Night at the Timber Rattlers, where we have seats, food, and dependent on your membership level, those tickets are included. We have our annual awards dinner, where we recognize people and businesses in the community that have done exceptional work. And we have one that we're doing this year that's new to us, a Glow Golf event at dusk with an 80s theme, music, and DJ. We're always looking for new things to do, so the value is: come to these events, present yourself, present your business. The more you come, the more networking you will get out of it, the more people you will meet.

Terry Pinch: So, let's talk a little bit about the golf outing. What goes into planning that event, and who does it?

Jamie Harvey: So, I am lucky enough that I have an events committee, and they do it. They have it kind of like a well-oiled machine. They have different people setting up the golfers, the logistics, and the sponsorships. Sponsorships are huge; have a hole, put a flag on it, sit on it all day, have a game, hand out trinkets of your business, pens, whatever.

Terry Pinch: Okay. And can you talk a little bit about ribbon cuttings? What does that involve, and how does somebody get you to do the ribbon cutting?

Jamie Harvey: Yes, ribbon cuttings are a lot of fun. If somebody gets a new business, we come out, congratulate them, celebrate, put you on our social media, and put you on our weekly email list. We'll clap our hands, bring the people, and celebrate you. That's really what we want, is to put attention on our members.

Terry Pinch: So what are some of the volunteer opportunities that members of the Chamber can get involved in?

Jamie Harvey: We will take volunteers for anything. We'll take volunteers for the ribbon cutting, any event we have, especially the golf outing. We have a group of young professionals that help out. We'll take volunteers for the annual awards. We're also going to have this new event this year called the Monster Mash in Hortonville, with games, prizes, musicians, face painters. We'll take volunteers for that. We're also involved in the catfish races this year. If anyone wants to volunteer, just let us know, we will take you.

Terry Pinch: So what's in it for the volunteers?

Jamie Harvey: Oh, well, first it's fun, they get to be part of the community, they get to be in front of everyone, and they get to be seen supporting the community. There's no loss in it.

Terry Pinch: Okay, so next let's talk a little bit about the board of directors. Generally, who become members of the board, and what is their role?

Jamie Harvey: They're a group of amazing people that are so supportive and active in the chamber, that run their own committees. I just sit in these meetings, and my mind is blown. They're like, we've got this going on, this is covered, this is what we're doing. It's humbling. They kind of run the chamber; I am in no means the boss.

Terry Pinch: Let's talk a little bit more about the young professionals. What is the young professionals group?

Jamie Harvey: It's under 40, and it's been restructured this year. They do fun stuff, but again, that's being restructured, and it's about to take off again.

Terry Pinch: What can you share about Fox West 50?

Jamie Harvey: No, because that is also being restructured, and we have got a meeting coming up in July about how it's gonna be running in 2027, so unfortunately, I don't have enough information to speak on that yet.

Terry Pinch: Can you talk a little bit about networking among chambers?

Jamie Harvey: Last week, Landmark Credit Union, which is new to the area, came up from lower Wisconsin and Illinois, and we had Heart of the Valley, Fox Cities, and Fox West Chambers there for the ribbon cutting. We support each other. We all like to play together in the sandbox. There's no reason not to interact with each other. I love supporting their events, and they support ours as well.

Terry Pinch: Do the chambers have a role in working with state government?

Jamie Harvey: Not in my role, not in our chamber so much. We don't see a whole lot of that. We do have politicians that come to our events, and they're a no-fee member, so come support us if you want to be at these ribbon cuttings, that's great.

Terry Pinch: Looking at the Valley in general, you have a positive outlook on the growth and new businesses?

Jamie Harvey: Of course. The Greenville area has got two new subdivisions that are huge being built. So, the more people that will come, the more business that will come. The Greenville-Hortonville area is ready for a huge growth, and we are here for it. Everything on the right-hand side going south on 41 is considered our territory. We're just gonna keep moving and growing, get more members, show them the value, and support them. It's a great partnership!

Terry Pinch: We're going to take our final break. You've been listening in, and we'll be back for one more segment.

Terry Pinch: Welcome back to BizTalk with SCORE. We'd like to thank our sponsors for their generous support: Haley & Associates, Johnson Financial Group, The Business News, Community First Credit Union, New North, and Baird. With that, we'll turn back to Jamie Harvey from the Fox West Chamber of Commerce. Can you let people know how they can get a hold of you in the chamber?

Jamie Harvey: Of course. You can call me anytime at 920-931-2925, or email me at marketing@foxwestchamber.com. I'll love to hear back from anybody, answer what questions they have for joining, or about membership, or about the Chamber.

Terry Pinch: We'd like to thank Jamie for being a real trooper and sticking through this recording, even from a beer cooler. Jamie, I think we should probably mention to our listeners where else they could have seen you recently in the area.

Jamie Harvey: Fox Cities Magazine is a huge supporter of the Fox West Chamber. They have the swimsuit edition every summer, and they need somebody in different divisions to be represented. So I'm in the nonprofit world, and they needed somebody, and I put my hand up for it. It was a lot of fun, and I'm getting a lot of fun feedback and a lot of smack talk, too. Grab a Fox Cities swimsuit edition, and I'll give you an autograph.

Terry Pinch: So in the time we have left, what's next? Where is Fox West Chamber heading?

Jamie Harvey: More memberships. We've got 4 new members this week so far, so we are growing like crazy. We've got that Glow Golf coming up, we've got our Timber Rattlers event, and our annual golf outing at the end of July. We're just moving, the days go by so fast, we've got so many people giving us feedback of things we should do, it's just a lot of fun. I'm loving it.

Terry Pinch: Well, that's great. We really appreciate having you on the show. It's good to have somebody who's been in the role for just a short period of time and can talk about what she's seeing and learning, and to show the amount of enthusiasm you have. Thanks a lot.

Jamie Harvey: I make it work.

Terry Pinch: To our listeners, you've been listening to BizTalk with SCORE. If you want to hear this episode again, it'll be up as a podcast shortly. You can find the last 3 years of podcasts at your favorite podcatcher, including Apple, Amazon Music, and Spotify. You can also catch us on the WHBY app, and we are very thankful for WHBY. Thanks again for all they do, and thank you to listeners for listening in. We really appreciate the opportunity to tell our community about the businesses in the area, and about what SCORE does. Have a great weekend, and we'll talk again next week. Thank you, everybody. Bye.

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Mary Rhode

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Rick Sense

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Terry Pinch

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