Finding Big City Passion At A Small Town Pace | Barbara Clifford President, Corridor Nine Chamber of Commerce
Photo/Ron Bouley
The Corridor Nine Chamber of Commerce may be “a little odd,†but it works, says Barbara Clifford, its president.
Barbara Clifford is not your typical chamber of commerce executive.
She spent more than 20 years building a successful career within the garment industry of New York City. In those days, she wasn't a member of a chamber of commerce, and didn't give such organizations a second thought.
That was until 1999.
That was the year she was downsized from her high-powered job as a divisional merchandise manager for Brylane Inc., which ran a clothing catalog business for brands including Lane Bryant and Lerner.
After stepping out of her 7th Avenue office for the last time, Clifford headed north to some vacation property in Maine and decided to relax for a summer.
"I went from about 500 miles an hour to 5 miles an hour," she recalls.
But as a high-energy New Yorker, Clifford couldn't stay lounging on the deck sipping wine for too long, and she eventually went looking for employment and found it at the Bridgton (Maine) Chamber of Commerce as the organization's executive director.
"I found out that I really had a passion for this type of business," she says.
Despite success in rural Bridgeton, Clifford soon hit a wall. There was only so much growth the chamber could absorb. So, she began looking and found her next opportunity in an unexpected place.
Staying Fresh
As a grizzled New Yorker, Clifford never truly reformed to the Maine way of life. And she felt compelled each Sunday to buy her copy of the New York Times at the local Rite Aid. But one Sunday, she decided it was time to be a true New Englander and picked up her very first Sunday edition of the Boston Globe. And it was within the jobs section of that issue that she found the one and only paid advertisement placed by the tiny Corridor Nine Chamber of Commerce, which at that time, was on the hunt for a new executive director.
That one ad paid off for the chamber's board, which received Clifford's resume and after a thorough interview process offered Clifford the job.
Clifford was drawn to the position because the Corridor Nine board was committed to becoming independent - it had been part of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce up until that point. So, Clifford packed up her things and headed south to the Bay State in July 2002 and the chamber became independent eight months later in February 2003.
And Clifford's 500-mile-an-hour attitude has propelled the chamber into a regional force. When she joined the chamber it drew more than 90 percent of its members from a four-town footprint of Shrewsbury, Westborough, Northborough and Southborough. Today, the chamber's core towns also include Grafton, while 40 percent of their members come from all over Worcester County.
"What excites us is innovation," Clifford says.
In the way of innovation, the Corridor Nine Chamber focuses much of its energy on reinventing the bread and butter of most chambers - networking events.
With precision and panache, they've driven membership to 750, and Clifford has her eyes on reaching 1,000 members.
"I know we're a little different and a little odd, but it's working," she says.
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