January - Commerce Lexington

Commerce Lexington takes KCCE honors2006 MEMBERSHIP EXCELLENCECommerce Lexington Inc. continues toreach new heights in membership growthand was recently recognized by theKentucky Chamber of CommerceExecutives (KCCE) with the 2006Membership Excellence Award for BestGrowth. Membership efforts are drivenby Lynda Bebrowsky, senior vicepresident of marketing and memberservices, Dana Zinger, director ofmembership development, and accountexecutives Ron Allen, KendallMarkesbury, and Susie Patrick.Commerce Lexington’s membership hasBUSINESS FOCUSJanuary 2007: Volume XV, Issue IINSIDE THIS ISSUEincreased from 1,735 members in early2005 to nearly 2,100 members as 2006came to a close.COMMUNICATIONS EXCELLENCECommerce Lexington Inc.’s monthlyBusiness Focus magazine wasrecognized by KCCE as the BestNewsletter among chambers of similarsize in 2006. In recent years, BusinessFocus has been transformed from a twocolor,16-page publication to full-colorand 24 pages. It’s circulation hasincreased from about 3,600 a few yearsago to now more than 5,200.ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:Messages from Incoming, Outgoing CLX Chairs . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Economic Development News & Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Bluegrass Works Summit is March 29th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7EVENTS:2007 Boulder Leadership Visit Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . 8IPN Resource Roundtables are Jan. 9th & Feb. 6th . . . . . . . . . . 9Lexington Catholic, Republic Bank present Business Link . . . . 10Entrepreneurs’ Reception features Rieva Lesonsky . . . . . . . . . . 11Humana presents CLX Annual Dinner on February 1 . . . . . . . . 13GET INVOLVED:New Commerce Lexington Inc. Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15Members-In-Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 9, 12, 16-18Member Spotlight: Subway’s Catering Division . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Leadership Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 -21Climbing the Corporate Ladder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22PUBLIC POLICY:Public Policy News & Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23CommentaryWRITTEN BY:Shari FiveashExecutive Vice PresidentCommerce Lexington Inc.LEADERSHIP LEXINGTON CLASSPROJECT TO BE MODEL FOR OTHERSEach year as the Leadership Lexington class decideswhat project it will take on as a group, members areencouraged to use the following project criteria inmaking that selection. The project must benefit theLexington community and may not be partisan orsectarian in nature. Projects may be highlyentrepreneurial in nature, involving creative problemsolving of a difficult issue or the launch of a newinitiative. Class members must be able to complete theproject within the Leadership Lexington class timeline,and class members must be able to do most of thework on the project outside regular working hours,since they are limited in the time they can take awayfrom their employment. It's certainly not an easy taskfor a group of 33 growing leaders to come to aconsensus on this project during their orientationretreat after just meeting each other.This year's class hoped to develop a project thatcould serve as a model for other entities, such asbusiness organizations, neighborhoods, andgovernment agencies that are interested in consensusbuilding for the greater good of the community. Theclass acknowledged that their primary focus would beto assist the Northeast end of Lexington. Within thefirst four months of their leadership class year, theyhave developed various subgroups/committees thatare working with organizations that already exist in thatarea of Lexington.NELI (NorthEast Lexington Initiative) and ArtsPower have joined to develop a small piece of stateland as the Issac Murphy Memorial Art Garden. Theclass divided into four subgroups: Logistics, ProjectDesign, Development/History, and Blueprint/Product.As a side note, they are assisting Arts Power inacquiring a 501(c)(3) status.From this learning experience, the class is creating ablueprint that ultimately will result in a tangible productand can be replicated to help others learn from theexperiences and processes of bringing the IsaacMurphy Memorial Art Garden (IMMAG) into fruition.The plan would include a vehicle for sustainability andfunding, as well as a "Go to Guide" or "Toolkit." Theidea would be to look at the project from a more globalperspective, one that talks about the "bigger picture"…quantum thinking and sustainability and to use thebackground information on Arts Power, NELI, andLeadership Lexington, and follow the path of theircollaboration.The hope is to elaborate on the situational versusSEE “LEADERSHIP” ON PAGE 203