By Chris Hagan
Review Staff Writer
Hanging on the back of Alaina Campbell’s office door is a t-shirt with a fairly accurate description of her soon-ending job title.
The shirt has the words ‘Chamber Ig’zekyetiv? (a phonetic spelling of executive) printed at the top and the description below.
It reads:
‘Exceptionally talented, multi-tasking professional, capable of gracefully occupying no fewer than eleven simultaneous positions on the time-space continuum. Event coordinator, marketing specialist, public relations and social media guru, psychotherapist, tour guide, media consultant, gracious host, community ambassador, golf expert, government liaison, volunteer tactician, all-around decent-if under-appreciated-human being, capable of warm smiles, firm handshakes, and sixteen-hour days.?
The shirt’s job description is not only a coalescence of Campbell’s duties but a reminder of what it means to be the leader for the Orion Area Chamber of Commerce. Campbell, who’s been the executive director for six years, is stepping down from her position and will be assuming the role of Director of Business Development at the Urban Air trampoline park and Legacy Center in Oxford.
When Campbell first began with the OACC they had about 167 members and no real initiative to communicate with businesses or promote the chamber. But through collaborative efforts by Campbell and other members, that number has now grown to 374 members and it’s still growing.
Campbell attributed the growth to figuring out what the businesses needed, growing the leaders within the organization, and consistent communication within their weekly newsletter, the Monday Motivator.
‘Monday Motivator started out as a monthly newsletter but within a couple months we released it needed to be weekly communication,? Campbell said. ‘That was one of the biggest things was just consistently communicating with our members what we were doing and what we had to offer.?
Now the chamber’s electronic newsletter has become so popular they’ve had to establish policies to help keep the length informative but not overwhelming.
With local business growth in mind, Campbell wanted to grow the involvement of the chamber with local residents and so she began a gift bag initiative aimed at incoming residents to the area. The purpose of the gift bag, which is stocked with coupons and business information, was to ease the stress of having to find trustworthy services in the area.
‘When a person moves to a new area they need everything. A doctor, a dentist, someone to cut their hair, and a bank or credit union,? she said. ‘When you get information from your local chamber of commerce about local businesses, in consumers? eyes, they figure if you’re part of the chamber, you’re probably a pretty trustworthy business.?
Campbell also noted events like the Shop LOcal Expo and the Impact Awards were among the most important for both driving consumers to purchase goods locally and recognizing the strong work of the business owners.
Since she made the announcement last week, Campbell says she’s been overwhelmed by the amount of touching emails, messages and texts she’s received from individuals sad to see her go but excited for her new adventure.
‘I’m going to miss the people the most and even though I know I’m still going to get involved, which is great, it’s not going to be the same,? she said. ‘I just love all our chamber members, I really do. We have so many awesome business owners in this community and that was one of the biggest things I was trying to communicate with the community.?
Her last day is March 18 and she’ll begin her new position working alongside Legacy owner Christian Mills at the end of March. She’ll be responsible for getting this area’s first trampoline park up and running while simultaneously looking to lease more space within the Legacy Center and booking groups to use the venue’s meeting space.
The OACC’s Executive Board is looking for a replacement and their application deadline is Friday, February 19. Qualifications for the now full-time position require a bachelor’s degree in a professional discipline relevant to providing executive leadership for an organization from an accredited college or university. Additionally, they are requiring a minimum of five years experience in a business related field.
Campbell’s advice to her future replacement is reminiscent of the t-shirt hanging on her office door.
‘First thing that comes to mind is get ready to wear a lot of hats,? she said. ‘It’s a collaboration of so many different jobs all into one and there are so many different aspects to this job from communication, to marketing, to membership recruitment, to event management. There’s a lot to this job.?