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Arizona Chamber Executives Monthly E-Newsletter
Winter 2012 Issue
Winter Institute Final Break was an ACE in the Hole!
The final break at Winter Institute was a smashing success! The Tucson Boys Choir left the Winter attendees with a wonderful performance they will not forget. This could not have been done
with out the support of the following Arizona Chamber Executive Members who rose to the occasion and donated to this event.
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Arizona Capitol Times
Buckeye Valley Chamber of Commerce
Camp Verde Chamber of Commerce
Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce
Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce
Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce
Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce
Gilbert Chamber of Commerce
Glendale Chamber of Commerce
Graham County Chamber of Commerce
Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce
Green Valley Sahuarita Chamber of Commerce
Jack Camper Consulting Group
Lake Havasu Area Chamber of Commerce
Marana Chamber of Commerce
Pinetop Lakeside Chamber of Commerce
Prescott Chamber of Commerce
Prescott Valley Chamber of Commerce
Sedona Chamber of Commerce
Sierra Vista Chamber of Commerce
Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce
St Johns Regional Chamber of Commerce
Tempe Chamber of Commerce
Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce
Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce
The Arizona Delegation at Winter Institute 2012
Pictured here from left to right, Larry Johnson, Angela Ramirez, Tisha Castillo, Mary Ann Przybylski, Robert Medler, Danielle Brown, Crystal O’Donnell, Karen
McClurg, (don’t mind my expression) Jeni Coke,
Marnie Uhl, Audrey Holt, Gioia Goodrum, Allyson
Solomon, Deanna Kupcik, Lea Marquez Peterson, Elizabeth Fantetti, Kellie Boff, and Lisa Krueger.
To view the Tucson Boy’s Choir in action, please click here!
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Arizona Chamber Executives Monthly E-Newsletter
Winter 2012 Issue
Featured Chamber of the Month— Williams Grand Canyon
Williams, the Gateway to The Grand Canyon®
Nestled at the base of Bill Williams Mountain, amid
the world’s largest stand of Ponderosa Pine, lies
Williams. This is a place where cowboys, horses,
vintage cars and motorcycles are as much a part
of the landscape as the blue sky, sunshine and
fresh mountain air.
The Williams-Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce was incorporated in 1974. In 1994, an
agreement between four entities brought the
Williams
and
Forest Service
Visitor Center
to life. The City
of Williams, the
Chamber
of
Commerce, the
Official Tree Lighting Ceremony
Forest Service
and
Public
Lands Interpretive
Association all work
together to provide
area information to
the over 100,000
annual visitors to
our
town.
The
Chamber and the
Visitor Center share
space in the historic
Santa Fe Railroad
Depot.
Mountain Village Holiday Parade of Lights
The Chamber is the designated marketing agent for
the City of Williams. The Chamber staff include the
President/CEO, an Events Coordinator (currently an
open position) an Executive Assistant and a part-time
Membership Services Coordinator plus two part-time
Visitor Center. Throughout the year, the Chamber is
directly or indirectly involved with over 25 events that
occur here in Williams, for example the Arizona State
H.O.G. Rally, Mountain Village Holiday, and the Williams Labor Day Rodeo.
Executive Spotlight… Gioia Danesi Goodrum
Cambridge, MA. I was also a professional
chef for ten years.
I am delighted to be featured in this
month’s ACE Newsletter. The past
nine months have been a whirlwind
for me as President/CEO of the Williams-Grand Canyon Chamber of
Commerce. As a person new to the
chamber industry, my learning curve
is quite steep. Thankfully I have wonderful mentors and others supporting
me and teaching me ‘the ropes’.
My husband and I moved to Arizona
from the Boston area in 2002 and
spent the last nine years in the Verde
Valley. I have over 15 years experience in higher education, directing
career services departments at Yavapai College
and Brandeis University. I have an MBA from
Simmons College in Boston and worked as an
accountant at Coopers and Lybrand and was a
human resources specialist at Arthur D. Little in
But being a chamber director….that has to
be the most interesting and fun job I have
had so far. In my first week here, I had two
fam tours to escort around a town I barely
knew and in my second week I attended a
trade show. Talk about a learning curve!!! It
has been a non-stop e-ticket ride from the
beginning.
I am very blessed to have a wonderful, supportive and patient board of directors as I
navigate my new job and surroundings. My
chamber and visitor center staff are a wonderful group of people and I am honored to work beside
them. I want to say thank you to the ACE membership
for all the support and assistance, in particular for placing me with a wonderful mentor, Jennifer Wesselhoff.
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Arizona Chamber Executives Monthly E-Newsletter
Winter 2012 Issue
Arizona Chamber Executives Welcomes New Members…
Estelle Bryant, Executive Director, Ajo Chamber of Commerce
Jeni Coke, Membership Concierge and Event Manager, Lake
Havasu Area Chamber of Commerce
Crystal O’Donnell, Office Manager, Pinetop Lakeside Chamber of
Commerce
Kathy Tippett, Director of Administration and Technology, Lake
Havasu Area Chamber of Commerce
Beverly Oleson, Executive Assistant, Prescott Valley Chamber of Commerce
Gloria Grose, Membership Director, Prescott Valley Chamber of Commerce
Save the Date!
March 6th, 2012
Chamber Day at the Legislature
The cost to attend is $50 person, you can register now
Visit our website, www.arizonachamberexecs.com
Agenda coming soon!
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Arizona Chamber Executives Monthly E-Newsletter
Winter 2012 Issue
ACE Welcomes 2012 Board of
Directors
W.A.C.E. Conference 2012
Auction Items Needed
Arizona Chamber Executives is proud to announce the 2012 ACE Board of Directors. The
Board of Directors were finalized during the annual
membership
meeting this past
October. We are happy to announce the
following ACE members will serve on
the 2012 ACE Board of Directors.
The W.A.C.E. Foundation Auction helps to
pay for conference speakers and fund scholarships for local chamber executives and staff to
further their professional development.
Each chamber attending the conference is
asked to provide a minimum of one auction
item with a value of at least $100. You will
need to bring the item with you to the conference at Planet Hollywood—Las Vegas (NV),
February 8–10, 2012.
Chair—Beverly Stepp, Pinetop Lakeside
Chamber of Commerce
Vice Chair- Jim DiGiacomo, Green Valley
Sahuarita Chamber of Commerce
Treasurer—Deanna Kupcik, Buckeye Valley
Chamber of Commerce
Past Chairman—Ed Stolmaker, Marana
Chamber of Commerce
Please fill out the linked form and FAX to
(818) 989-3836 to Nancy Hoffman Vanyek at
the Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of
Commerce or email the information to nancy@sanfernandovalleychamber.com no later
than Friday, January 20 so we have time
to produce the materials for the auction.
Please bring the actual item for the auction
with you to the registration area, at the conference, on Thursday, February 9, 2012.
Bob Hall, Winslow Chamber of Commerce
Mary Ann Miller, Tempe Chamber of Commerce
Todd Sanders, Greater Phoenix Chamber of
Commerce
Michael Varney, Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce
Jennifer Wesselhoff, Sedona Chamber of Commerce
http://tinyurl.com/waceauction
Ideas for Items You Might Donate
for the W.A.C.E. Foundation Auction
The ACE board typically meets three times a
year which coincide with ACE events. The next
ACE Board meeting will take place on March 5th
beginning at 3 p.m. and ending at approximately
5 p.m. Location to be determined.
ACE would like to extend our thanks to our going
board members, Dave Maurer of the Prescott
Chamber of Commerce and Don Rinehart of the
Glendale Chamber of Commerce. Your dedication to ACE is truly appreciated.
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Vacation Getaway packages that include
lodging, meals, entertainment, tickets to a
theme park or other entertainment establishment, hotel stays, rounds of golf, wine club
membership, bottles of wine, gift baskets, the
possibility are endless. Use your imagination
and donate to a worthy cause today!
Arizona Chamber Executives Monthly E-Newsletter
Winter 2012 Issue
And now few words from the ACE
Chairman 2011
ACE Calendar of Events
February 8-10, 2012
This is my last letter as the
President of ACE. It has
been a great year for ACE.
I could have not accomplished our goals without
the support of the board,
Karen and the members of
ACE. We all have a number of challenges that we
will be faced with in 2012,
but working together we
can get through them together.
2012 WACE Annual Conference
Las Vegas NV
March 5, 2012
ACE Board Meeting
Phoenix
March 6, 2012
Chamber Day at the Legislature
Phoenix
I am excited to have Beverly Stepp, Executive
Director, Pinetop/Lakeside Chamber of Commerce take over the position of President of ACE.
Thank you for your support
August 1—4, 2012
ACCE Annual Conference
Louisville, KY
Sincerely,
ACE is now
Accepting
Conference Bids
for 2012
Ed Stolmaker
President/CEO
Marana Chamber of Commerce
Would your community like to host an ACE Event? Arizona Chamber Executives are currently accepting bid applications for the ACE 2012 Calendar of Events. This year ACE will host the following events.

Legislative Summit

Annual Fall Conference & Meeting
To bid on one of the above events, click here to download the bid application. Applications are
due at the end of February.
We would love to come to your community next!
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Arizona Chamber Executives Monthly E-Newsletter
Winter 2012 Issue
Please welcome our 2012 Chair
Mark your calendar:
March 6 – Chamber Day at the Legislature
At the Fall Conference we welcomed a
large number of new
chamber executives
to ACE. I would like
to restate that ACE’s
mentoring program is
here to help. I do not
know of a chamber
director that set out
to be in the chamber
industry, but once
introduced to it, loved
it and the challenge. I
am no exception. As
a business owner I
sat on a chamber
board that was going through a difficult time.
ACE members, Jack Camper, Julie Brooks,
Susan Tegmeyer and Kathy Tilque, came to
facilitate and my love for the chamber industry
began. They, and others, in ACE became my
mentors where “no question is too crazy” to
ask. Please contact me on how ACE can help
you.
August – Legislative Summit – Date and location TBD
October – Fall Conference – Date and location
TBD
I look forward to working with you all this year.
Please contact me if you have any questions
bev@pinetoplakesidechamber.com or 928-3674290.
Sincerely,
Beverly Stepp
Executive Director
Pinetop Lakeside Chamber of Commerce
Hope to see you all at Chamber Day March 6
where we can state our agenda and issues to
our legislators. Karen is doing a great job
working with the committee developing a program and putting this event together. The
board will meet the day before, so if you have
any issues that you would like to have discussed, please forward them to Karen.
Karen McClurg, Executive Director
2104 South Beverly Street
Mesa, AZ 85210
Phone (602) 503-1399
arizonachamberexecs@yahoo.com
Your involvement in our events is invaluable to
you and your chamber. There is a financial
commitment to attend so please plan accordingly when you discuss the value of participating in ACE.
Visit our website at
www.arizonachamberexecs.com
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