As published in the May 1, 2007 Toledo Business Journal
Douglas Peters
GreaterFindlayInc., president and CEO
GreaterFindlayInc. provides traditional Chamber-type benefits and offerings to its members
Toledo Business Journal recently interviewed Douglas Peters, president and CEO of GreaterFindlayInc. He shared the following thoughts.
Toledo Business Journal: Can you share the background of the merger of the Hancock County Chamber and the economic development group?
Douglas Peters: The Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1887 as the area's primary source for business advocacy and economic development. In fact, the Chamber– at the turn of the 20th century – hired a European marketing guru to help establish the community's economy by capitalizing on a natural gas boom that occurred here at that time. In the early 1980s, one of our area's most prominent employers was threatened by a hostile takeover attempt, which caused our private and public sector leaders to consider the long-term need to diversify our economy.
From that concern, an unmatched private / public cooperative spirit was born that still exists here today. That cooperation led to the establishment of the Community Development Foundation (CDF), which was launched as a private organization to formally lead development. The CDF experienced many successes over the years, including the construction of the Tall Timbers Industrial Park, the establishment of US Foreign Trade Zone 151, and many other economic development triumphs.
In 1997, the community underwent the process of integrating the Chamber and the CDF, and the CDF was added as an operation of The Chamber. I was hired at that time to lead the newly unified organization.
Realizing since then that there are a variety of efficiencies to be gained by fully-integrating the organizations, GreaterFindlayInc. (GFI) was born in January of this year. GFI is an economic development focused organization that provides traditional Chamber-type benefits and offerings to its members.
TBJ: What do you see as the merger's key benefits? Any disadvantages?
DP: [I see] a dramatic gain in efficiency, both in resources and in the use of the civic leadership that drives our direction. We realized not long ago that many of the same people involved in both sides of the organization – the Chamber and the CDF – were attending four or five meetings each month and talking about the same things.
We also realized that there were a variety of emerging models throughout the country that offered a "better way" of doing things. After participating in a community visioning process led by then newly elected Findlay Mayor Tony Iriti, we look a long, hard look at ourselves and realized that there were a variety of improvements that could be made to the organization.
One [improvement] was to further streamline our business model. Another was to add a much-needed focus to what we do every day. We engaged the Six Disciplines Leadership Center of Northwest Ohio and were charged by our board to enter into a strategic planning process led principally by our leadership team.
Since that time, we've established a new mission for GFI along with a vision, values, and accountability measures to help us stay the course. These changes are profound, yet early indicators reflect it's the best thing we could've done for our business.
TBJ: How has the merger worked to date?
DP: We've certainly experienced dramatic change in what we do and more importantly in the way we do it. Historically, we've performed as case-managers for issues that would confront us on a regular basis and hope for the best at the end of the day. With our newly adopted strategic plan, we've gained the ability to say "no" to those things that don't impact our success measures and truly align our people and financial resources in those areas that matter.
Today, we begin work each and every day with a common sense of where we're headed and how it is that we're going to get there. Of equal importance is the fact that we're all on the same page, pulling on the same end of the proverbial rope.
We're still a model for private / public cooperation, we still have the ability to assemble the needed horsepower to move the community forward, and we can do so with confidence and metrics that are easy to defend, easy to follow, and compelling to the future of the region.
TBJ: Can you discuss the process of planning and strategy development for the combined organization?
DP: I must admit that after 22 years in the Chamber business, I was intimidated to do things differently than I'd done them in the past – particularly when it came to accountability.
In my business, there are a variety of variables that can affect the outcomes in economic development. Six Disciplines simplified the process for us, and the deeper I got into their methodology the more I realized that it was actually simplifying a very complicated way of doing business.
We began by identifying those on our team who have defined leadership roles in the organization and then committed to an intensive, three-day planning retreat held at the Six Disciplines Leadership Center. Against a backdrop of a priority plan developed by our combined boards last fall, our "business coach," Eric Kurjan, led us through a process of identifying what's important and establishing individual plans with targets for each of us.
Everything we do today has an owner, a timeline, and steps required to accomplish tasks that will lead to our success – and ultimately the success of the Greater Findlay region.
TBJ: What has been the response from your board of directors and from the business community?
DP: To be honest, it has been overwhelmingly supportive. Number one, I've taken more than two decades of Chamber experience and have translated that work into executing a true business model – actually operating our organization as a business and [operating our organization the way] a business would expect it to be run.
Because our way of doing business is so new, we're getting very favorable feedback from our constituents. They are pleased with our focus, our ability to get them engaged in the process without overextending our dependency on them individually and collectively, and our measurements that will provide us a series of dashboard measurements to gauge our successes.
TBJ: What are your expectations for growth in Hancock County?
DP: We're very pleased and thankful for the economic vibrancy that exists in the area today, which has come from the hard work of many people – both public and private – working together to get things done for the region.
We never take our economic success for granted, realizing that we must replace today the job that may be lost tomorrow. In short, we forecast continued strong growth in the community by focusing on the retention of those companies already invested here, working smartly to bring new investment to the community, and simultaneously ramping up our next level of development through technology acceleration through the North Central Campus for Emerging Technologies (NCC-ET).
Our focus today also includes workforce development to assure the availability of skilled workers to support our development efforts: supporting, improving, and enhancing the area's quality of life including healthcare, education, and amenities that attract people and investment.
TBJ: Do you see opportunities for sharing resources or doing joint project work with economic development professionals in the Toledo area?
DP: Absolutely. There's no question that there needs to be a regional focus on removing artificial geographic boundaries and working collectively for the common good. The Greater Findlay area has long believed that what's good for our neighbors is good for us. We're seeing a shift in local and state governments and seeing an incentive to work together, and we're committed to doing our part to make that effort successful.
GreaterFindlayInc., together with our private and public partners, has a keen interest in a variety of regional projects and initiatives – including the long-term development of the US 30 Corridor as well as cooperatively pursuing opportunity that has long-term positive impact on northwest Ohio.