Jeff Meredith is off and running in Monett, where he began work May 14 as successor to Suzy McElmurry and her 10-year run as executive director of the Monett Chamber of Commerce. Meredith spent five years with the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, serving most recently as its member relations coordinator. A Neosho native, Meredith is spending his early days introducing himself to the Monett business community and soaking up what he can about the city.
Finding the Career Path “Nothing necessarily pulled me away from Joplin. I just heard through the grapevine that the Monett chamber was looking to hire an executive director, and my goal for the last several years has been to, one day, lead a chamber of commerce.”
Time in the Day “In Joplin, I had come to be known by a lot of people. Now, I’m basically recreating myself in Monett, and I’m not just an employee. I’m the executive director, so the buck definitely stops here. Whereas the Joplin staff has 16 people, and they all stayed busy doing different things, we have a two-person crew here – myself and an administrative assistant. The things you can do with a crew of 16 are just not feasible here because you still have to do all the basic things a business does, such as pay the bills, in addition to the ribbon cuttings and reaching out to businesses for memberships. You have to be able to prioritize because time is the great regulator in life.”
Surviving the Storm “It was scary. It was confusing. None of us really knew what to do. The next day, with all the television coverage, my brother in Philadelphia knew more about what was going on than I did. Then, we were all very [emotionally] raw once we did start to find out what was going on. … On Monday, a lot of stuff wasn’t working – power wasn’t working. We were trying to operate via cell phones. It was like a war zone. … We took two days to get things back in place, but we went to work. Then, I was on Range Line Road on Wednesday with a pen and a piece of paper trying to make a list of the businesses that were there. We had two groups of two, one group started on the west side of town, and I was on the east side, and we all met in the middle on Main Street. In order to find out what businesses were impacted, we had to find out what businesses were gone. (The experience) has prepared me for, God forbid, a disaster in Monett. The Joplin chamber had a disaster plan in place, but you can’t prepare for the unthinkable.”
Establishing a Monett Routine “(My first day) we went out and called on businesses … and we got two new members. I’m just trying to learn the job. I’m spending some time with the former director and just asking her a lot of questions. ‘Why do you do this? Why do you not do that?’ A lot of this job for me is getting out and meeting the Monettians. I went out on Broadway yesterday, and I walked up and down the street. I stopped in at probably a half dozen businesses just to shake hands and introduce myself. I feel like that is one of the things I have to do because I am an outsider. For them to trust me, they have to know who I am. And I want them to know I’m an approachable person.”
Obstacles to Growth “In a perfect world, you have a large company that comes to town and brings 1,000 jobs and that is done through a variety of recruitment methods. However, 80 percent of job growth comes from existing industries. What a chamber can do is go out and meet people and say, ‘Hi, what do you need to add employees? Do you need some land? Do you need a capital infusion, some education?’ And if the chamber doesn’t have all those resources, then it can facilitate those connections.”[[In-content Ad]]
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