Spotlight On: Michelle Vernuccio, President, North Jersey Chamber of Commerce

Spotlight On: Michelle Vernuccio, President, North Jersey Chamber of Commerce

2022-07-13T09:42:05-04:00December 9th, 2021|Economy, North & Central Jersey, Spotlight On|

 North Jersey Chamber of Commerce2 min read December 2021 — The North Jersey Chamber of Commerce is an organization focused on providing information, networking, workshops and advice to its members. The Chamber represents over 165 cities throughout the state of New Jersey. Chamber President Michelle Vernuccio spoke with Invest: about the new era for chambers, the industries taking the lead in the region and the concerns of the Chamber’s members.

What was a key lesson from the pandemic?

COVID proved to us that you don’t have to work with someone in your region to do business; people were connecting from all over. We connected with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, and we did speed networking. We reached out to our partners outside of New Jersey to hold events where each of us would bring our members and they could meet new faces virtually. The members loved it because they were meeting with new people outside of the state. 

Does this seem like a new era for chambers of commerce and what does that tell you about the future?

Chambers have to reinvent themselves. It is not an obligation for businesses to be part of a chamber, they join on their own. All chambers are individually owned and operated at the end of the day. In this day and age, one must be a problem solver on the spot and that is what we did and that is what we have to do. As long as you are always offering that opportunity of networking and marketing for these members, that showcases the return on investment. You have to offer great and innovative business ideas. We have been doing that. For us, there has not really been a change in terms of offering these new opportunities, because we have been doing that for all these years.

What industries are taking the lead on North Jersey’s economic development and how is the Chamber participating in this growth?

We are a chamber of commerce that does not hold a political or economic development arm. We are solely involved in strategic networking and digital marketing efforts. Our goal is to be a marketing liaison between member and member, but we have had the New Jersey Economic Development Board and other organizations reach out to us during COVID and wanting help to get information out there because they really know that the North Jersey Chamber has a strong marketing and branding arm. We increased our membership in 2020, with 117 new members during COVID. We also increased our membership to 250 businesses in 2021, alone. That shows you that we did something right by being innovative, introducing our Connect2Connect19 program, and by working with chambers outside of this region to bring those networking opportunities to our members. In the last three months, we attracted 75 new businesses to the Chamber.  

Which industry is best represented by your membership?

There are a lot of industries that became essential and doubled their business in COVID in comparison to what they have done in the last three years, including professional services and IT. However, a lot of the new members that are joining are solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, or a mix. We have over 900 businesses that are members of our Chamber, covering about 80 industries, representing 13 out the 21 counties in New Jersey. That is a large geographic footprint. 

Have you seen North Jersey diversifying its industry or have traditional industries grown stronger?

It is a bit of both. I think a lot of businesses have had to pivot in terms of their strategy. One member pivoted from selling tickets to Broadway shows to selling promotional items. We had another business that went from IT to adding Zoom and different types of sanitation machines or devices, or that started selling masks.  

What concerns are local businesses now expressing?

The challenge that North Jersey is seeing is hiring, as nobody is able to find staff. Some of the essential businesses that are growing cannot find staff, but our restaurants and bars have seen the greatest struggle. Because of that, they have to pivot by expanding the responsibilities of new hire positions among their team. The flipside is keeping your team happy. 

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