Alliance for Regional Stewardship: Support for regional planners and leaders

ARS Affiliation Agreement Will Expand Programs, Services for ARS Members and Regional Leaders

June 12, 2007

The Alliance for Regional Stewardship (ARS) is embarking on a new Affiliation Agreement that will strengthen our organizational structure, help us expand our regionalism work to a broader audience, and bring exciting new benefits to current ARS members.

The ARS Board of Directors has approved an Affiliation Agreement with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), a national non-profit association founded in 1914 that serves individuals in Chamber of Commerce management and other organizations working in economic and regional development.

Under the Agreement to be signed this summer, ARS will become a signature part of ACCE’s expanded focus on regional activities, research and partnerships. ACCE will assume responsibility for the management, funding, and operations of ARS.

Current and new ARS programming will be offered to ACCE members, and to interested leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors who want to promote development in their regions.

ARS will retain its name and non-profit status, with a Board of Advisors that includes ACCE representatives, and ARS will have voting representation on the ACCE Board.

All current ARS members will be offered membership in ACCE at no additional cost through 2007, with benefits including attendance at two national conferences, participation in web-based training and learning, and access to ACCE’s extensive information network.

This new Affiliation means that the ARS National Forum, scheduled in November, 2007 in Long Beach, CA, will not be held. Instead, current ARS members and others interested in ARS Forum topics will be invited to ACCE conferences this year, where regional topics will be featured. In future years, the ARS annual conference will become a feature of ACCE annual meetings, held annually in August.

“With this affiliation,” said Mick Fleming, President of ACCE, “ACCE will expand available resources for communities and chambers related to regionalism. We will establish a separate wing of our website for ARS with regionalism-related content, links, research and resources. We will expand ARS consulting services and energize the ARS Regional Stewardship Awards program. And we will ensure strong regionalism content in our national meetings.”

Fleming added: “This affiliation agreement is a win/win for regional activists and for the 1,200 Chambers of Commerce across the country. Business leaders increasingly are engaging across political and geographic boundaries to help solve the challenges confronting their communities. ARS brings experience in more than 50 regions as advisors and mentors, helping build the multi-sector coalitions that are the key to regional success.”

Joan Riehm, Chair of the ARS Board of Directors, noted that the ARS Board adopted an ambitious strategic plan last year to expand its services, but found it needed a strong organizational framework to make the plan a reality. “We are delighted that ACCE sees the value that ARS has built in helping deliver real, measurable results in the regions where we’ve worked. We are looking forward to expanding our consulting, research, and information services to reach a much broader audience than we could do on our own.”

David Thornburgh, current President and CEO of ARS, will be stepping down from that position once the Affiliation Agreement is complete in mid-summer. “David has a great commitment to the ARS vision,” said Riehm, expressing the gratitude of the ARS Board for his service. “His insights and disciplined thinking about how to realize the ARS vision have been enormously important to the Board and to the decision to pursue this strategic option.”

Riehm, a consultant in Public Issues Management based in Louisville, KY, will serve as interim executive director of ARS through 2007, until ACCE hires a staff director for its expanded regional activities.

For more information on benefits to current ARS members under the Affiliation Agreement, click here.

For more information on the two national conferences with regionalism-related content that ACCE plans this year, click here.

For more information on ACCE, click here.