AMHERST — Drawing on his experience in “destination marketing,” new Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Timothy O’Brien is confident that the town continues to resonate as a place people want to visit.
“They know college towns have a different vibe and a downtown activity that is more interesting,” O’Brien said.
In the role he began Aug. 1, O’Brien lays out a three goals:
get people to spend more time dining and shopping in downtown;
promote the regional business climate;
support commercial endeavors in a community that is equally well known for its cultural attractions, like the Emily Dickinson Museum and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, and being the home of the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts, along with Amherst College and Hampshire College.
“This is a small town that acts like a much bigger town because of the colleges and university,” O’Brien said. “I want to make sure visitors leave behind their footprints and discretionary spending while they’re here.”
O’Brien, who formerly worked in marketing for Yankee Candle and Kringle Candle, as well as serving as communications director for the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, joins the chamber at a point of transition that began when Donald Courtemanche left the position in April after two years.
Jerry Guidera, the interim executive director for four months, said having a permanent executive director is part of the process of rebuilding the chamber and maintaining its place as an active participant in the community. That includes weighing in on zoning changes and development proposals and ways to reduce issues caused by homeless individuals.
Having spent time defining office policies, stabilizing its structure and planning, and ensuring that membership dues are being collected and accounted, Guidera said he is confident O’Brien will find the chamber in a good place.
“My main job was to take what was here and formalize it,” Guidera said, who, along with Kim Alli, director of marketing and membership, helped oversee what turned out to be the most successful Taste of Amherst in June.
That 25-year-old food festival is the most prominent public event put on by the chamber. Others include a golf tournament in July, the A+ awards banquet that honors community service in October, and Margarita Madness in March.
As he begins his tenure, O’Brien said he understands that all downtowns are facing challenges, among which are fewer brick-and-mortar stores among the restaurants.
Ideas have been floated to promote retail shops, Guidera said, such as encouraging them to shift their open times to better align with when restaurants are doing the bulk of their business in the evening hours.
Bringing more people from the UMass campus to Amherst is also an essential task for O’Brien.
“It’s an opportunity to better leverage the number of people who come to Amherst as visitors,” Guidera said. “We need to do everything we can to capture the visitor counts.”
O’Brien began his first day on the job with a meeting with the Amherst Business Improvement District, an organization focused on downtown Amherst. He anticipates working closely with its executive director, Sarah la Cour.
“In the vast majority of situations, what is good for one is good for the other,” O’Brien said.
His first weeks in Amherst will be about getting into the community to meet businesspeople, town leaders and others, and he will get around town by both walking and bicycling.
“I want to do a listening tour, and make sure I’m listening more than I’m talking,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said he will ensure the chamber is advocating for and representing the consensus of the business community.
“His role is to play the role of advocate on behalf of the Amherst area,” Guidera said. “It’s about getting the chamber’s brand into the discussion again.”
A lot of the work O’Brien does, though, won’t be noticed by the public. One aspect is the need to increase membership. The chamber had more than 600 members in 2008, but this number declined following the Great Recession and is now at about 400.
It’s been a long time since a concerted effort was made to get more people to become members of the chamber, Guidera said. The main reason people aren’t joining is financial, he said
O’Brien said creating real value for members is essential, in part through more networking. This means offering After 5 social events and brown bag luncheons focused on business-related topics.
It is also important to pay more attention to the non-Amherst members, with many members in Hadley, Sunderland and the smaller towns that surround Amherst.
O’Brien recalls that while at Yankee Candle some tourists wanted to visit Amherst and the company made arrangements to have a bus pass by the Emily Dickinson Museum and then drop people off in the center. This is the type of synergy between communities and destinations he would like to see more of.
“That’s a good example of how towns and attractions that are close to each other can benefit each other in many ways,” O’Brien said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
