Forum to bring together tourism related businesses and organizations in the region

Visit North Central Massachusetts (VNCM) and the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce the fourth annual Tourism Update Breakfast being held on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at the Double Tree by Hilton, 99 Erdman Way, Leominster, MA. This exciting and fast paced breakfast event features industry experts who will share their professional insights on marketing North Central Massachusetts. The 2019 breakfast program is sponsored by the Double Tree by Hilton.

Lysa Miller, Co-founder of 3 Media Web, will speaking on online strategies to boost your business to visitors and groups. Lysa Miller is an entrepreneur and business development expert with 20+ years of experience increasing bottom lines for companies. In the past, she developed strategies for businesses that encompass the use of social media marketing, content marketing, SEO and online advertising to help reach their revenue goals. She is currently a partner at 3 Media Web where she continues to help fuel growth, evolve the brand, provide thought leadership and insight, create strong relationships in the community and build innovative partnership programs. 

Tony D’Agostino, has been with the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism for more than ten years as the Director of Research. In that time, D’Agostino’s main projects have been related to studying the volume of tourists, visitors and the economic impact of tourism spending in Massachusetts. These reports support the marketing initiatives and activities of the sixteen regional tourism councils across the Commonwealth.  Mr. D’Agostino’s presentation will highlight visitor trends, top visitor markets and the impact of tourism for the state and region. 

Roy Nascimento, President of Visit North Central Massachusetts and the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce will also provide an update on the tourism marketing initiatives of Visit North Central Massachusetts for 2019. 

“Tourism is important to the future of North Central Massachusetts and plays an increasingly important role in our local economy” said Roy Nascimento, president of Visit North Central Massachusetts. “We organize this annual program as a way to bring tourism related stakeholders in the region together to share best practices, learn new trends in the industry and to take advantage of new opportunities to better market local businesses and the region to visitors.” 

The Tourism Update Breakfast is open to all community members and will run from 7:30 am to 9:30 am. The cost is just $25 for VNCM and North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce members/$35 for non-members and includes a breakfast buffet. Pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, please contact the Chamber at 978.353.7600 ext. 235.

Community and business leaders will look to the future of the economy in North Central Massachusetts at the Eighth Annual Economic Forecast Breakfast being held on Friday, March 29th from 7:45 am to 10 am at the Double Tree by Hilton, 99 Erdman Way, Leominster, MA. Sponsored by Fidelity Bank and in partnership with the Greater Gardner, North Quabbin, Nashoba Valley and Wachusett Area Chambers, the Breakfast will feature the annual Economic Outlook Survey and three featured speakers. 

This year will feature an Economic Forecast Panel comprised of three business leaders: Rachel Lopez, President of Resource Management, Inc.; Dr. Keith Williamson, Dean of Business and Technology of Fitchburg State University; and Jeff Fuhrer, Executive Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Jeff Fuhrer is responsible for the Bank’s regional and community outreach functions. He has been an associate economist of the Federal Open Market Committee, and regularly attends key U.S. policymaking meetings with the Bank’s President.

Dr. Keith Williamson is the Dean of Business and Technology at Fitchburg State University. He is a mechanical engineer with more than $6 million of sponsored research from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Labor combined. He is a former Chair of the Board of Directors for The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems, a Virginia research corporation, and former Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at Virginia State University. Williamson holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Tufts University.

Rachel Lopez is President of RMI, Resource Management, Inc. RMI is a family-owned company based in Fitchburg that provides Human Resources Outsourcing services to businesses across the country. Ms. Lopez joined RMI 20 years ago and was the company’s first employee. The company prides itself on an approach that values long-term employees and a concerted team effort. 

The cost is just $25 for Chamber members/$40 non-members and includes a breakfast buffet. Season Tickets are also available for purchase.  Pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, please contact the Chamber at 978.353.7600 ext. 235 or register here. 

(North Central Massachusetts) – The North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce is hosting its next quarterly Women’s Leadership Connection on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. This edition of the popular program will focus on women in manufacturing and will feature Courtney Pirosko, Vice President of Sales for AIS, Inc. and Cheryl Molebash, General Manager of Georgia Pacific – Leominster.  The program, sponsored by Fidelity Bank, runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Double Tree Hotel, 99 Erdman Way, Leominster, MA. 

As a young female executive at a prominent Massachusetts-based office furniture manufacturer with an international footprint, Ms. Pirosko’s brings a unique prospective built through 18 years of experience in various capacities within her field. She began her career on the dealership side in New York City as a project and account manager.  In 2010, she accepted a position on the manufacturing side with Global Total Office as a Market Manager in Chicago and then in 2013 she accepted a regional management position with AIS in Chicago.  She went on to be promoted to Vice President of Sales for New England and the Mid-West, which prompted her relocation back to the east coast. Her leadership and management skills have led to aggressive market growth and increased brand recognition for AIS.

Ms. Molebash serves as the plant director for Georgia Pacific’s Dixie Cutlery facility in Leominster, MA.  She began a 31 year manufacturing career in Ohio with Mead Fine Paper Division, where she became a Six Sigma Black Belt, a role that then took her to Atlanta, GA to support the Beverage plant and subsequently all of the Beverage Plants in a Six Sigma Deployment role.  She returned to the plant in Atlanta in the Production Manager role followed by the Plant Manager assignment. She transitioned into a global director of Business Transformation supporting Beverage and Primary Plastics global locations. 

The Women’s Leadership Connection (WLC) is a program of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce that is held quarterly in September, December, March and June.  The program focuses on business women empowering women in business.  Core topics include professional development, career advancement as well as social and civic engagement.

Pre-registration is required and easy. Simply call the Chamber at 978.353.7600 ext. 235, email or click here to register.  The cost is $35 for members and $50 for non-members.

The North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce has long been a champion of education and has been actively engaged in supporting our schools. We recognize that the quality and accessibility of public education is critical to the health and prosperity of our state and regional economy.  We would, therefore, like to commend Governor Baker and our legislative leaders for looking to address education reform in this legislative session.  It has been twenty six years since the state last did so, and we believe that there is no issue more critical to our state and its future.  

As Beacon Hill moves forward with discussions on how to best improve our schools, the Chamber would like to present five recommendations for consideration.  These proposals were developed, with input from educators, by a taskforce of employers convened through the Chamber.  Much of the final report – titled Build North Central and published last month – focuses on our K-12 institutions. Public schools have a substantial impact on the skills and careers the state’s students pursue. 

School Funding: Much of the discussion so far has focused on providing additional funding – of up to and over $2 billion – and adjusting the formula that the state uses to support school systems.  It has been twenty-six years since the formula was first developed, so we agree that it is time to explore reforms and look to new investments into our schools. However, any new funding should be accompanied by meaningful reforms with increased focus on career readiness and greater support for underachieving school systems. Meaningful reforms should be a condition to providing additional funding.  

College and Career Readiness: Reforms should encourage an emphasis on creating career pathways in the schools and promote both college and career routes.  Currently, high school success rates are measured heavily by college admissions, leading to curriculums that promote college preparation over other options, such as vocational training.  State leaders should look at reforms that will better align school success with workforce needs.  Partnerships with schools and employers should be incentivized by the state to ensure alignment with the students’ career interests and the skills necessary to succeed in the workplace. 

Expand Experiential Learning: We are staunch proponents of work-based learning which, provided alongside rigorous college-level coursework, has proven to be effective in preparing students for success academically and in the workforce.  Programs such as internships, co-ops, apprenticeships strengthen the educational experience, help our schools engage local employers, and provide meaningful introductions to career opportunities.  State leaders should look for ways to expand work based learning in the schools, granting every high school student access to some type of experiential learning prior to graduation.  The taskforce also recommends that career introduction programs be offered in the middle school to allow exploration of potential career opportunities before they and their parents begin discussing high-school coursework.

Expand Access to Vocational Technical Education: Vocational Technical schools in our state serve as models of how to best integrate academics with career preparation.  Employers value the high caliber graduates coming out of these increasingly premier institutions, who leave prepared for both college and the workforce.  This, in turn, has greatly increased competition for class space, leading to long wait-lists among those seeking admission.  Reforms should include increased access to high-quality vocational education, achieved through expanding our technical schools; introducing vocational-technical elements into our conventional schools; and supporting partnerships between our high schools and our community colleges to fill the gap.

High-School Credentialing: Industry-recognized credentials are often used by employers to certify that an applicant has the appropriate level of skills to qualify for a particular job.  State leaders should look for ways to encourage school systems to introduce high-school credentialing courses that are linked to the demands in the labor market.  Students who earn industry certifications, which are often “stackable”, are then better prepared to find high-demand, high paying jobs directly out of high school or to continue their education in a chosen career. 

We support the continuing dialogue that incorporates the concerns of students, parents, employers and educators and prepares our youth to succeed and our state to excel in today’s competitive environment,

 

Roy Nascimento, IOM

President & CEO

North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce